Twitch bans crypto casino streams

Twitch has announced streamers on the site will be banned from playing live crypto casino games from October.

The controversial announcement was made in a statement posted to Twitter earlier this month.

Streaming casino games has become increasingly popular on Twitch in recent times. Many famous faces have used channels on the platform to play games on crypto casino sites.

Among them is the rap star Drake, who is thought to have wagered more than $1 billion on crypto casino games, with the Canadian celebrity often streaming live via Twitch.

The ban of streaming gambling such as crypto casino play comes into effect on October 19.

“While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games, we’ve seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm,” the platform said in a statement. “So, we’ll be making a policy update on October 18 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 consumer protection.”

Various sites such as Stake.com, Rollbit.con, Duelbits.con, and Roobet.com were named among those that will no longer be allowed to feature on Twitch channels in the future.

Much of the controversy surrounding crypto casino gambling via live streams centres around a popular UK-based streamer who is accused of tricking viewers into giving him money.

ItsSliker, who has more than 430,000 subscribers, then said in a video he has a gambling addiction and had borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund his spending.

Various key figures from Twitch then called on the platform to ban gambling streams in their entirety in response, with the site swiftly making its ruling on the matter.

Reports indicate that crypto casino sites such as Stake pay some influencers as much as $1 million in order to use the site on their social media channels such as Twitch.

Stake is one of the world’s largest crypto casinos but the site is going through a turbulent time after co-founders Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven were hit by a new $400 million lawsuit.

Florida resident Christopher Freeman claims he created a site that became the predecessor to the Stake crypto casino before being forced out of a partnership with Tehrani and Craven.

Stake strongly denies his claim. A spokesman said the site “complies with all applicable laws”.