Twitch to ban promotion of unlicensed casinos
The streaming platform will update its gambling policy.
US.- The streaming platform Twitch has announced that it will prohibit live streaming from unlicensed gambling websites from October 18. The platform said had taken the decision to update its community guidelines again since gambling content had become a “big topic of discussion in the community”.
The announcement comes after several high-profile Twitch streamers called for the platform to ban gambling completely, using the hashtag #TwitchStopGambling. The movement began after the prominent Twitch streamer Abraham Jehad “Sliker” Mohammed revealed that he has a gambling addiction.
Sliker apologised to his fans live on the platform and said that he began gambling with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins in 2017 and then began gambling for money. Following his admission, the streamers Mizkif, Ahgren, Piker and Imane “Pokimane” Anys called for Twitch to ban gambling.
It appears that Twitch had already been reviewing the matter, but the recent campaign may have pushed it to announce action sooner than planned. The platform’s last update to its gambling policy came in August 2021, when it banned link referrals promoting gambling, however, some channels have been circumventing the rules.
From next month, Twitch will not allow users to stream gambling websites that feature slots, roulette or dice games if the website in question does not have a licence in the US or in another jurisdiction that provides “sufficient consumer protection”. It’s not yet clear how it will define which jurisdictions it recognises.
The statement went as far as naming specific sites Stake.com, Rollbit, Duelbits and Roobet.com as online casinos that had broken community rules. All four are licensed in Curaçao. Twitch said it would provide more specifics on its updated gambling policy soon to clarify exactly how it will work.
It appears that Twitch will still allow all streaming from websites that offer sports betting, fantasy sports and poker.
Not all Twitch users are happy with the clampdown. Tyler ‘Trainwreck’ Niknam, whose gambling streams have a watch time of almost 80 million hours, said that the ban was the fault of streamers who promote a ‘false reality’ and not gambling per se. He also noted that Sliker was addicted to sports betting and yet Twitch appears to be banning only slots, roulette and dice games.
Twitch has become a significant source of promotion for some online casinos, particularly crypto casinos. Slots have become the seventh most popular category on the platform, with almost 60,000 viewers. Last month, Carnival Cruise Line Casinos named the slots streamer Brian Christopher as its exclusive casino gaming influencer. Slovakia took the decision to ban Twitch due to its gambling streams.
