Twitch Announce When Gambling Ban Begins, Why It’s Happening And Loopholes

Streaming service Twitch has confirmed it will implement a partial gambling ban on roulette, slots, and dice games from October 18, 2022 – but other forms will slip the net.

The social media service, which boasts around 30 million active daily users, says the ban will “prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette or dice games”.

The move comes following a backlash from viewers and some streamers who have become increasingly frustrated by the number of influential streamers advertising gambling in recent months.

In some cases, there have been more views of people playing online slots than there have playing Minecraft. Worryingly, there is little to stop minors from viewing the casino content.

The Twitch gambling ban will affect many casinos but sports betting will still be visible on the site

Statement From The Company

Earlier this September Twitch issued a statement outlining its intention to ban gambling advertising and content on the platform from mid-October 2022.

“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 updates in this area,” Twitch said.

“We’ll be making a policy update on October 18th to prohibit 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 customer protection.”

The statement came following uproar from users who were seeing more and more gambling ads and mentions hit the site. For example, Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam earned $1m a month from a gambling company to live stream his gaming to his 2.1m followers.

As a growing number of streamers take gambling revenues, even more have criticized the trend. So much so that there was even a threat of a boycott unless Twitch changed its stance on gambling.

And earlier this summer streamers were embroiled in a Twitch brawl at a gaming event in Germany, over allegations made about gambling.

It therefore comes as no surprize that the social media company has changed its policies – but it doesn’t quite cover all forms of gambling.

Twitch Gambling Ban Loopholes

While the Twitch gambling ban appears, on the surface, to be a bold move from the company, there are actually many loopholes streamers can get around. The main one if that Twitch has effectively said it will only ban streams from casinos not licensed in the U.S.

What’s more, crypto casinos are banned, so out goes the likes of Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com.

Yet sports betting sites remain. There is plenty of sports betting content on the platform – some of it very popular – and so far there is no move to restrict websites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker.

So, the likes of BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel will likely be able to advertize and feature on Twitch streams without any interruption.

“We’ll share specifics on the updates to our Gambling policy soon,” said Twitch, “including the full policy language, to make sure everyone is clear on our new rules before they take effect on October 18th.”

Since then we haven’t heard a peep out of Twitch regarding gambling on its platform. But make no mistake, its users appear ready to hold the platform to account.