As streamers threaten boycott, Twitch takes action on some gambling content

Enlarge / Gambling-focused streams like this one will see more restrictions from Twitch in the coming weeks.

Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch announced late Tuesday that it will start cracking down on streams that promote certain types of gambling sites in the coming weeks. The move comes after a number of prominent streamers publicly mulled a “Twitch blackout” to protest what they see as Twitch’s implicit promotion of damaging and addictive gambling behavior.

The concern over gambling among some streamers has become newly relevant this week thanks in part to Sliker, a somewhat prominent streamer who admitted on a stream last weekend to a serious addiction to gambling on the outcome of CS: GO matches. Regular readers will recognize that type of gambling as one that Valve and other streamers have struggled with for years.

Sliker says he solicited at least $200,000 in donations from other streamers and viewers under false pretenses, using the money to fund his gambling habit rather than to help with a claimed temporary cash flow issue. “I don’t know what to say to the people I borrowed from,” Sliker said in his confession stream. “This is the epitome of gambling. I want to say don’t touch it.”

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Author: Kyle Orland. [Source Link (*), Ars Technica – All content]

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