In addition, there is another, more important problem: some streamers break the law by playing on Stake, as crypto gambling is illegal in the United States. To work around this problem, Niknam first used a virtual private network to simulate that it was in another country. When even that proved untenable, he uprooted his life and moved to Canada in 2021, where online gambling laws are less strict. There, he continued to bet on Twitch almost every day, vowing up and down that others shouldn`t. In January, it said it was „down” by $12.9 million at stake. Shortly after all that had happened, additional dirt was dug up on some of the people involved on both sides of the streaming debate. Streamer Mizkif, in particular, has been accused of covering up cases of sexual harassment and using racist and sexist slurs in recently shared text conversations. Mizkif admitted he was aware of an incident of sexual assault, although the details of that case are still under investigation. Speaking of which, OTK (a content organization that co-founded Mizkif) announced that Mizkif had been „put on leave” while contacting a third-party legal organization to help them investigate the case. The Twitch Community Rules prohibit streamers from directing viewers to, or sharing affiliate links or referral codes to sites containing slots, roulette or dice games. „Gambling content on Twitch has been a big topic of discussion in the community and something we`ve been actively looking at since our last policy update in this area,” the streaming platform said.
„While we prohibit the sharing of links or referral codes for any sites containing slots, roulette or dice games, we have seen some people circumvent these rules and expose our community to potential damage.” In 2018, Twitch`s casino section contained many channels with dubious reputations, some of which inflated their audience with bots to promote certain slot gaming sites. Over time, this has evolved into a more influencer-focused strategy, with the relative success of long-time slot streamers like Ishmael „Roshtein” Swartz attracting bigger names like player Tyler „Trainwrecks” Niknam and Twitch King Felix „xQc” Lengyel. While gambling streams aren`t new to the platform, in recent years, some on the platform have argued that „wealthy creators have promoted potentially dangerous content to impressionable young fans,” according to Kotaku. A number of developers have urged Twitch to do something about online gambling streams, citing potential dangers for younger users. Some have used the hashtag #twitchstopgambling on Twitter to draw attention to game feeds. At the time of writing, there are more people watching Twitch streamers playing virtual machines than playing Minecraft – with TwitchTracker`s estimates, slots are the 10th most popular type of content on the platform. The streaming giant, which is owned by Amazon, said in a statement Tuesday that it would ban content that „contains slots, roulette or dice games that are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” This news may have surprised some users, as Twitch has been slow in recent years despite the questionable legality of these game streams. Finally, what encouraged the company to take the plunge and ban gambling? Well, would you believe it can be traced back to a former Team Liquid member and a lot of streamer drama? The „game” section of Twitch has been a point of contention for some time. While some legal gray areas have allowed people to stream via Twitch through various websites, countless Twitch streamers have had big problems for one reason or another because they play live on air.
The new streamer, former Team Liquid ItsSliker member, spent so much money on streaming in-game that he essentially started the drama that resulted in the game being banned from Twitch. Although the amount of money he spent was not as important an issue as where he got that money. Twitch, Amazon`s own streaming site, will ban users from posting videos of themselves playing slots, roulette or dice games on unlicensed gambling sites, the company said. Recently, Twitch released an update stating that the company will be released on September 18. October will ban all links and referral codes to slot, roulette and dice games, especially those not licensed in the United States. „Unfortunately, under these updates, slots, roulette, and dice games can still live on Twitch, only in their watered-down form on U.S.-licensed sites,” Nash told The Washington Post, noting that even Stake has a U.S. version, though it doesn`t require real money to play games. „The good news is that we may see more consumer protection from these sites, but the bad news is that the game will still remain here even under the updated policy. Twitch needs to do even more to recognize the harm the game is doing to its audience and resist the game. In a tweet on Tuesday, Twitch announced that it would start on September 18. October will ban live streaming sites that offer dice games, slots, and roulette. He identified four sites that will be banned — Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com — and said, „We can identify more as we move forward.” This is a blow to casino betting, which has become a big deal on Twitch in recent years.
The formula is simple: streamers visit a gambling site and exchange real money for cryptocurrency, which they can bet on simple gambling games like slots and roulette. Viewers tune in to experience the thrill of a big gamer vicariously with wealthy streamers dropping tens or hundreds of thousands — and sometimes more — to sometimes make millions. Twitch`s new ban on streaming sites „that contain slots, roulette or dice games that are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection” will go into effect on Oct. 18, according to its Twitter statement. Details of policy updates will be communicated prior to the effective date of the rules. Sharing links or referral codes to promote slots, roulette and dice games has been banned since August 2021. However, Twitch said it has „seen some people circumvent these rules and expose our community to potential damage.” Twitch on Tuesday announced a ban on streaming unlicensed gambling sites, including slots, roulette and dice sites, starting next month. First, Twitch has not issued a blanket ban. The listing only covers slots, roulette and dice gaming sites; Sports betting, fantasy sports and poker sites are always on the table. Twitch could prevent the rest of the internet gambling sites from streaming in the future, which is probably what some community members would like to see. This, of course, raises an important question: why stop there? Why not also ban game streams with game mechanics? Twitch had previously banned users from sharing links or referral codes on sites offering slots, roulette or dice games.
He said he was enacting the new policy because he had „seen some people circumvent these rules and expose our community to potential harm.” In a tweet late Tuesday, Twitch announced that starting in October, it will „ban streaming of gambling sites containing slots, roulette, or dice games that are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” These sites, according to the announcement, include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com — all of which collaborated with popular Twitch streamers or were present on the platform. The tweet included an exception for sites focused on sports betting, fantasy sports and poker. „There is very little research on the relationship between illegal gambling and gambling disorder,” she said. „Restricting access to regulated websites may be helpful, but consumer protection varies online. I`d be interested to know how [Twitch] defines consumer protection – do [gambling sites] allow customers to self-exclude, track transactions and send alerts when excessive gambling is detected, or provide information on help with gambling issues? Pokimane tweeted on Monday: „As if Twitch were to ban gambling.” The post received more than 310,000 likes. Twitch has announced a partial ban on the game targeting slots, roulette and dice games. For now, however, Twitch has simply stated that it will „prohibit streaming gambling sites containing slots, roulette or dice games that are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient customer protection.” The news comes after several Twitch streamers threatened to boycott the platform after a streamer named Sliker, whose real name is Abraham Mohammed, allegedly tricked people into giving him at least $200,000 to play, Kotaku reported. However, Twitch said it would continue to allow streaming from sites that „focus” on poker, fantasy sports and sports betting. Prohibited websites include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com.
Other sites could be banned later, Twitch said in a statement on Twitter. Sites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker are still allowed. Matthew „Mizkif” Rinaudo and Imane „Pokimane” Anys, who have millions of followers, were among those discussing how celebrity streamers could temporarily leave the platform for a week this Christmas, unless Twitch took action against game feeds. In addition, a clip quickly surfaced showing prominent game streamer TrainwrecksTV offering thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency to Twitch employees during its streams. While this issue is also unresolved at this point (Trainwrecks claimed that the people it gave money to are no longer Twitch employees), the timing of the incident raised many questions about whether Twitch made too much money (directly or indirectly) from game streamers to intervene and make long-term policy changes.