Twitch Finally Makes A Move Against Gambling Streams
It's official: Twitch has instituted a new policy to cut down on gambling streams, the controversial yet popular broadcasts where streamers invest real money in casino-style games and arguably encourage the practice amongst their viewership.
In a Wednesday, August 11 Creator Update that was emailed to streamers and shared by streaming reporter Zach Bussey on Twitter, Twitch sent the following message: "To prevent harm and scams created by questionable gambling services that sponsor content on Twitch, we will prohibit sharing links and/or referral codes to sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games." Twitch added that it would give streamers a grace period to remove gambling content from their channels, and would begin enforcing the new rule on August 17, 2021.
It makes sense that Twitch is finally making some changes to its gambling rules given the involvement of big-name streamers in the controversial meta. xQc told viewers he was sick of gambling streams in June 2021 after deciding that he wouldn't take part in them anymore due to their addictive nature. Pokimane even wanted xQc to stop hosting gambling streams, urging him and Trainwrecks to stop promoting this type of content. Despite the new rules communicated by Twitch, some streamers doubt that the new rules will be enough.
Is Twitch's Gambling Rules Update Enough?
Streamer and fan reactions expressed disappointment at the fairly weak measure, and pro-gambling streamers didn't seem scared at all given the rule's innocuousness. As Asmongold wrote on Twitter, "Twitch's new rules for gambling don't do anything other than pay lip service to concern while still profiting." The streamer clearly doesn't think the site is doing enough, citing issues that included the lack of an age-gate and continued ability for streamers to run sponsored gambling streams.
Clearly, the new update isn't comprehensive. Casino streamer Roshteins wrote that this update "could be going into the right direction," while Twitch partner Lowco referred to the change as "a small update." Fan NaMii found the new policy outright disappointing: "Although it's a good start it still doesn't really stop sponsored gambling streams, I was hoping for more but I guess that's always the case with Twitch."
Now that Twitch has taken some action against gambling streams, the world will have to wait until August 17 to see what changes, if anything.