Has Twitch Banned Crypto Livestream Gaming? Here is more about it
Twitch, owned by Amazon Inc., has announced that it will ban crypto gambling content. This will be implemented from next month, 18 October.
Live broadcasts of slots, roulette and craps games on sites such as Stake.com, Rollbit.com and Duelbits.com are not permitted.
This ban comes after the backlash over controversial cryptogambling livestreams against multi-million dollar sponsorship deals enjoyed by many prominent Twitch personalities.
These live streaming gambling sites such as Stake.com, Rollbit and Duelbits.com are not licensed in the US or other jurisdictions responsible for providing consumer protection.
Stake.com, which is the most popular of these sites, is licensed in Curacao.
According to the tweet, Twitch mentioned that gambling content has been “a big topic of discussion” in the community and added,
Although we prohibit the sharing of links or referral codes to any sites that include slots, roulette or dice games, we have seen some people circumvent these rules and expose our community to potential harm.
Websites not registered in the US should be banned
It has been mentioned that sites that are not licensed in the US or other jurisdictions that provide adequate consumer protection should be banned going forward.
Other sites will also be identified in the future. However, platforms focused on sports betting, fantasy football and poker will not be banned.
Streamers have also stated that they have secured more than $1 million in sponsorships within a month from sites like Stake.com.
According to data from TwitchTracker, watching streamers gamble has become very popular, even more popular than watching players play Fortnite on Twitch.
At any given time, at least 50,000 people watch Twitch celebrities play slots, blackjack and other games of chance, along with gambling with crypto like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Both Twitch streamers and fans have mentioned their stance against gambling live streams.
Concerns over growing crypto-gambling have increased
The increasing prominence of cryptogambling content has raised some immediate and major concerns. It has even caused some users to lose a significant amount of money and also caused addiction.
Prominent Twitch users have even threatened to boycott the site until the crypto-gambling issue is resolved.
Earlier in September, a streamer admitted to defrauding fans and other Twitch creators of close to $200,000 to pay for an addiction to playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Although this was not crypto-related, crimes regarding crypto-betting have also been on the rise.
Not only famous Twitch users, regular users and fans have also expressed their disapproval of these gambling live streams.
Some fans and users have also developed an addiction and are now hooked on crypto gambling after being inspired by their favorite streamers to engage in crypto gambling.
