Twitch has announced that, starting next month, it will begin banning the streaming of gambling sites that aren’t licensed in the U.S. or other jurisdictions “that provide sufficient consumer protection.” However, the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform is set to continue to allow websites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker.
The move comes after months of heated debate among creators, which have long been divided between pro and against gambling content on the platform. It also follows recent reports that a streamer called ItsSliker had scammed fellow big-name Twitch creators out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fuel a gambling addiction.
Twitch’s new policy on gambling was announced via Twitter on Tuesday. “Gambling content on Twitch has been a big topic of discussion in the community, and something we’ve been actively reviewing since our last policy update in this area,” the platform acknowledged in its statement.
While Twitch already prohibits sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games, the livestreaming service claims it has seen “some people circumvent those rules” and expose its community to potential harm.
An update on gambling on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/lckNTY9Edo
— Twitch (@Twitch) September 20, 2022
In response, the Amazon-owned site will be making a policy update on October 18th to prohibit the streaming of gambling sites “that include slots, roulette, or dice games that aren’t licensed either in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.” Sites to be targeted will include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com, said Twitch, but the platform opened the door to identifying others as it “moves forward.”
The livestreaming website promised to share specifics on the updates to its gambling policy “soon,” including the full policy language, to make sure content creators and users are clear on the new rules before they take effect next month.
Twitch’s new announcement was celebrated by many popular creators, including Pokimane, the platform’s most-followed female streamer, who had urged the site to take action on the issue. Other Twitch influencers that backed the effort against gambling content include a group of popular streamers such as Mizkif and Devin Nash, who had threatened to stop livestreaming.
we did it y’all.
public pressure, tweets, raising awareness, it all matters. https://t.co/FtC7h0Za7e
— pokimane 🤍 (@pokimanelol) September 20, 2022
According to data from TwitchTracker, watching streamers gamble on Twitch is almost as popular as watching gamers play Fortnite. At any given time, over 50,000 people are watching streamers play slots, Blackjack and other games of chance, primarily gambling with crypto, says Bloomberg, which highlights the move will primarily target crypto gambling livestreams.
The move also comes amid a backlash against recent multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals enjoyed by top Twitch personalities, Bloomberg adds, with sites like Stake.com sponsoring the biggest influencers for upwards of $1 million a month, according to one popular streamer.