The move came after several fans and streamers criticized Twitch for gambling livestreams.
Twitch, an American video game live streaming platform, will ban unlicensed crypto gambling livestreams following severe backlash from some of its top creators.
“While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games, we’ve seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm,” the Amazon-owned company said in a statement on Twitter.
With effect from October 18, Twitch will prohibit live-streaming gambling sites that “aren’t licensed either in the US or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” These sites include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com and the company will identify others moving forward. The company, however, will continue to allow websites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker.
The move came after several fans and streamers criticized the platform for gambling live streams. Some of its top personalities even threatened to stop streaming if the company does not take appropriate steps to monitor gambling.
According to a CNN report, which cited TwitchTracker, ‘Slots’, a game where viewers watch streamers bet in crypto in online casinos, is currently the tenth-most watched game on the platform. “Sites like Stake.com, impacted by the announced ban, have sponsored streams on Twitch to attract new players and allow them to use cryptocurrencies to gamble on their platform,” the report added.
According to another report by Bloomberg, a recent rise in gambling live streams on the platform has led to addiction and even alarming debt for some users. Recently, a prominent Twitch Streamer ItsSliker scammed friends and fans to fuel his gambling addiction and took over $200,000 (approximately Rs. 1.60 lakh) from them to pay off his gambling debts.
Several streamers have threatened to leave the platform following the scandal. #TwitchStopGambling is trending on Twitter as more and more streamers and viewers call out the platform for lack of rules to regulate gambling.
“Gambling is damaging to young Twitch users, bad for legitimate advertisers, and brings down the quality of the whole site,” popular streamer and CMO of influencer marketing agency Novo Studios Devin Nash said on a Twitter thread.
