07:16
26 Oct
Twitch announced last month that it was planning to implement a crackdown on gambling after pressure from some of its high-earning stars. Now it appears that the wording of the new regulations might have been written inaccurately, allowing the streaming of unregulated slots sites and the like to continue.
Scamming
A scandal involving UK-based streamer Abraham Jehad “Sliker” Mohammed where he admitted to taking more than $300,000 from his fans to feed his gambling habit might have been the final nail in the coffin for the Twitch genre.
When Sliker opened up about his gambling habit, the hashtag #TwitchStopGambling was quickly trending on Twitter. Gambling-related content has been incredibly popular throughout the year with many huge wins posted while streaming live. There was always bound to be some push back with many lucrative casino sponsorships in place but we also saw some of Twitch’s biggest earners threatening a boycott.
Popular streamer “Trainwreck” was particularly vocal about the change saying that Sliker was an addict and this is all just an overreaction. Rumoured to have made more than $360 million from his content, it’s understandable why he wouldn’t want any change. He tweeted:
“to be clear, the people scapegoating SLOTS, BJ & ROULETTE and not blaming the individual, are the real problem. on top of that, SLIKER WAS A SPORTS BETTING ADDICT, THE ONE TYPE OF GAMBLING THAT IS NORMALIZED & THAT I DONT HEAR A SINGLE ONE OF YOU CLOUT GOBLIN FUCKS TALKING ABOUT”
“WITH THAT SAID, the STREAMERS & VIEWERS who sell a false reality should be banned, people who gate keep giveaways through codes that require you to gamble should be banned, people who hide all losses and only show wins should be banned, things like this are predatory”
The ban on streamers showing unregulated casinos came in on October 18 and we saw a reported 97% drop in traffic for the niche. Online poker was clearly lucky to have avoided being lumped in other types of gambling.
But now, there may be a work around, at least until Twitch decides when they will adjust the new regulations, which they surely will.
Twitch streamer Scurrows posted the following work around on Twitter, translated from the original German language.
“I took a closer look at Twitch’s new gambling rule and I came to the following conclusion: Therefore, when a streamer is playing a casino and the casino’s name is visible in the image, it is not clear which site they are playing on. As long as no URL can be seen, it is not possible to say with certainty whether this streamer is breaking the rules. http://Stake.com /
@Stake for example is forbidden. http://Stake.Us or http://Stake.Uk are allowed. But as a spectator you don’t know where the player is playing.”
Trainwreck has already announced plans to build a gambling-focussed platform himself but now he might not have any need to. We will see, but with 2.1 million followers he definitely has plenty of support.
“i’m going to create a platform or team up with one and instead of only contracting large creators, i want to primarily contract small-mid size creators, current platforms deem you irrelevant but you are the backbone of the entire industry, & you deserve at least a little security”