Streamers Protest Against Twitch Ban Of Gambling Content

A popular streamer with a large and loyal fan base, known as ItsSliker, whose real name is Abraham Mohammed, recently admitted on stream that he had been defrauding his audience for years by soliciting loans from them and then failing to repay either the loans or the interest promised on them.

All of this was done to sustain his serious gambling addiction, and he did it while knowing he would never be able to repay his massive gambling debts. The total amount he duped supporters is now estimated to be in the $300,000 range.

Many popular streamers have demanded that Twitch prohibit streaming of gambling since he made his confession. Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo, and Devin Nash are just a few of the influential streamers. They have threatened to not use Twitch during peak traffic times unless the company takes action against gambling streams.

New Regulations

On September 21st, the website said that it would revise its terms of service to prohibit “any streaming of gambling sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games that aren’t licensed in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” As of October 18th, websites like Stake.com, Rollbit.com, and Duelbits.com among others will be prohibited, and further bans may follow.

The new laws do not prohibit games like poker, sports betting, or regular fantasy sports, but more specifics will be released in the coming months. Streamers on Twitch are already prohibited under the site’s community standards from recommending sites that host slot machines, roulette wheels, or dice games, or from sharing affiliate links or tokens for these sites with their viewers. However, beginning on October 18th, streams all over the world will likely be impacted.

A significant number of streamers throughout the world are likely to be affected by the broad restrictions, despite their activity already being subject to their own countries’ legislature. France, for example, has many influential Twitch streamers with gambling content related to sports betting, poker, and fantasy sports. The country’s legislative authority is the ANJ, and since 2021 they have suspended a number of French gambling accounts due to wrongful activity on Twitch.

A better approach to the situation might have been to work alongside a few national gaming control boards such as the GCB, MGA, or UKGC, in order to find a solution that benefits everyone.

For their online gambling streams, popular Canadian streamers like Félix “xQc” Lengyel and Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam have received sponsorship arrangements with Stake.com. Trainwreckstv has even issued a statement on Twitter to bring attention to the real issue: “To be clear, the people scapegoating SLOTS, BJ & ROULETTE and not blaming the individual are the real problem.”

It’s not the first time a Twitch streamer has been accused of using their audience; in fact, Mizkif and Pokimane have themselves been accused of being involved in sexual assault incidents involving other streamers. Because of the high stakes involved and the impact on a multibillion-dollar industry (gambling), ItsSliker’s case in particular has garnered significant media attention.

Given where most of the controversy stems from, one streamer’s addiction and his actions to keep feeding his habit, despite him not being a slot gambling streamer and actually admitting to being addicted to sports betting, seems a bit like Twitch isn’t addressing the real issue. Instead of banning streams of a type of entertainment that many people are able to enjoy safely and in a healthy manner, they should be looking into better age restriction management and what exactly their platform is doing to enable a toxic relationship between viewers and entertainers.

Final Thoughts

Upholding this ban for long under the current wording could prove difficult for Twitch in any case, given that the U.S is currently undergoing a massive revolution in terms of gambling legalization. The platform will most likely be forced to give better thought and provide better solutions to how gambling streams could be presented safely to their intended and legal audience.

Numerous popular video games already feature gambling-like elements like loot boxes, which ItsSliker claims to have been the “birthplace” of his eventual addiction. As part of its $13 billion Thursday Night Football contract with the NFL, Amazon has already dipped its toes into the gambling industry by making sportsbook site DraftKings an official sponsor as well as the only odds provider for these matches. We’d like to take this chance to remind you that Amazon owns Twitch.

Only the future can tell how games of chance will be integrated on Twitch. Given that the banning of a type of entertainment instead of finding a legitimate solution involving proper infrastructure and terms does not usually yield a positive outcome, this will most likely not be the last occasion we are faced with this subject.