New streaming site linked to crypto casino giant
Links between a major crypto casino and a new streaming site have been revealed.
In October this year, streaming giant Twitch announced it would be banning live gambling streams, which resulted in a huge drop in activity on the site. Many top streamers on Twitch have used the site to show themselves playing casino games at sites such as Stake.
The announcement resulted in some criticism from the streaming sector, but a new site has sprung up to fill the gap in the market left by Twitch. Kick, though, has proven to be a controversial platform as a result of links between the site and the Stake crypto casino.
Stake is one of the biggest names in the world of online gambling. The site has sponsored a variety of leading football teams around the world, including Premier League side Everton, while Stake also has ambassadors such as the Canadian rapper Drake, who often streamed himself playing casino games via his Twitch account ahead of the recent ban.
Streamer Tyler ‘Trainwreck’ Niknam had one of the top accounts on Twitch before the ban, with huge numbers of fans tuning in to watch his regular slots streams on the site. He was one of the main critics of the slots streaming ban, then announced he would be moving over to Kick.
In a statement, Trainwreck posted on social media: “Kick’s team and I have a vision to make a livestreaming platform that’s actually built first for creators. Not just for Twitch’s huge creators with paid contracts, but for the small and mid-sized creators who are the foundation and backbone of all livestreaming platforms. We will bring livestreaming back to what it as before Twitch lost its way.”
Following that reveal, though, it was uncovered that Kick and Stake have links between their ownership, a fact Trainwreck then confirmed in an interview with the Washington Post.
Kick has a similar layout to Twitch and has been an immediate hit, signing up hundreds of thousands of new members who are keen to watch streams such as live slots gameplay.
Streamers including Ludwig and Coffeezilla have hit out at Kick, Stake and Trainwreck for not disclosing the links earlier. It remains to be seen whether Kick will become a viable alternative to Twitch for live slots streaming at crypto casinos, or if the controversy will overshadow its launch.
Twitch co-founder Marcus ‘djWHEAT’ Graham made his thoughts on the matter clear when he used Twitter to label Kick “a sham”, claiming that the new rival site has “so many red flags”.
