Twitch’s Crypto Casino Ban Ignores The Bigger Game

Under a heavily monitored Twitch stream on September 18, British creator Sliker made a tearful admission to his audience. “It’s time for the truth,” he said between sobs. “I lied to a lot of people … I borrowed money from people.” He confessed to at least $200,000 from other streamers and fans, a move he claimed was the result of a gambling addiction that began with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. “I came across streamers and asked them if I could borrow money,” he said. “I didn’t want to give them the reason, because it was gambling. I would lie to them.” He has since been stripped of his partner status and users can no longer subscribe to his channel.

Sliker’s defrauding of several well-known streamers draws new attention to Twitch’s sticky relationship with gambling, which has existed on the platform for years. Critics say that for impressionable viewers, watching their favorite streamers place bets can be a gateway to an expensive, sometimes illegal, potentially life-ruining addiction. Twitch says it has been “actively reviewing” gambling content and has plans for changes in October, but some streamers want it off the platform altogether.

On Twitch, you can stream slot machines, sports betting, poker and other games that are legal in many places. Many streamers do so, part of lucrative sponsorship deals where companies give them money or referral codes to play games on their sites in front of viewers. It’s mutually beneficial: streamers pull in big paychecks—some claim they’re making millions—and gambling companies turn big-name streamers into direct advertising for their services. According to TwitchTracker, “Slots” is currently the 10th most viewed category on the platform.

Twitch does not allow streamers to share referral codes, affiliate links, or link to sites that have slots, roulette, or dice games, but some streamers have managed to circumvent these rules, according to the company itself. The platform is in the middle of a “cryptogambling boom”, even though many cryptogambling sites are not legally allowed to operate in places like the United States. Because cryptocasinos are primarily based offshore, they avoid gambling regulations, but US players can still access them using VPNs. Crypto casinos also show no signs of slowing down; in August, Bloomberg reported that cryptocasinos continue to draw in young players thanks to their continued presence on Twitch and celebrity endorsements such as those from rapper Drake.

Gambling, legal or not, has long been viewed as a nuisance by some members of the Twitch community. Shortly after Sliker’s confession, prominent Twitch stars Pokimane and Mizkif, along with streamer and marketing agency co-founder Devin Nash, came together on a stream to discuss Sliker and gambling’s role on the platform. They proposed a campaign to put pressure on Twitch to ban gambling: a 1 week boycott at Christmas, a high-traffic holiday on Twitch. Nash in particular has been adamant about removing gambling from Twitch, calls it’s “terrible for the platform” as well as “harmful to young Twitch users, bad for legitimate advertisers, and diminishes the quality of the entire site.”

Jerk announced on Sept. 20 that it will update its policies, effective Oct. 18, to specifically ban online gambling sites “that include slot machines, roulette, or dice games that are not licensed either in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide adequate consumer protection.” the company said on Twitter. Currently, that list includes cryptocasinos Stakes.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobert.com, although Twitch notes that the list could grow as they begin to enforce the new guidelines.

To be clear, this is not an outright ban on gambling – it’s a blow to cryptocasinos. Twitch will still allow streams for legal activities such as sports betting, fantasy sports and poker, and even games of chance such as US-licensed slots or dice. On TwitterNash called the move to abolish offshore cryptocurrency gambling sites “a step in the right direction,” noting that it could make it more difficult to stream gambling on Twitch and lead to consumer protections on things like deposit limits — protections that could “lower the number of tragic stories we watching from those who started playing because of Twitch.”

“However, what we fought for was a ban on luck-based gambling because it is objectively harmful to the site and its users,” he wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “This is not it. Luck-based gambling will still be alive and well on the site on October 18.”