Gambling live streams on Twitch
Twitch and YouTube Live are just some of the streaming services that are now a significant part of popular entertainment; these have provided a breathing ground for millions of live streamers and tens of millions of daily viewers.
These streamers often broadcast their lives and activities — often digital gaming — live to an audience that interacts and chats with them in real-time. Besides streaming videogames, the dominant platform Twitch is currently housing some 150 channels that offer the live streaming of real-money slot machine gambling; the most popular of those channels regularly achieve over 100,000 views.
Streaming slots are in the headlines these days. The big names streamers are vaulting through countless views and betting and winning each time, to very large amounts and telling about Casino Ratgeber FAQ. Others streamers like Imane "Pokimane" Anys have criticized them, calling the hosted slots sites "sketchy" and "ethically ambiguous." Felix "xQc" Lengyel eventually quit from streaming slots out of fear he was addicted to gambling and apologized for having put such a thing before his viewers-which included younger underaged people.
Age-gating and gambling
Research into Twitch is growing, especially regarding gambling streams. Such a genre was the focus of one of the first studies in the area. While only about four percent of adults in the United Kingdom watch gambling streams akin to the Twitch slot channels, a much larger, 14 percent say they have played such slot machine games online. The study showed a correlation between watching online gambling streams and self-reported problem gambling, with cause and effect remaining in question.
Live streaming of gambling events has raised some serious ethical and regulatory questions. What is often referenced in the media as great outrage over these streams is that young people are exposed to gambling risks. Twitch and elsewhere have done almost nothing in terms of age-gating or age verification. The streamer can only say that this particular stream is for mature audiences, but there is nothing from stopping any viewer from wanting to click on Start Watching.
Transparency and legal issues
There are also various other problems associated with transparency. Streamers might be committing malicious deception or even everything from fraud to outright fraud should they continue to fail in disclosing affiliations with the gambling sites where they choose to play.
Some deals between sponsors and streamers include regular balance “top ups.” The gambling site would maintain or refresh a given account balance for the streamer, either for free or in casino terms, the account balance would be “comped.” This leads into questions around advertising standards and the safety and mental health of the streamers themselves. Some streamers like xQc have expressed concerns over possible gambling addiction.
Moreover, the gambling activities could be illegal depending on the license status of the gambling website and the streamer geolocation. However, identifying what is permitted is not an easy task.
If we bear in mind that a gambling website can be hosted in one location; a streamer in another; and viewers located all over the world, then local, national, and international laws should all be taken into consideration. Moreover, with the combined presence of different currencies such as fiat; fungible crypto; non-fungible crypto; virtual currencies without cash value – not all legal forms of tender for gambling according to different jurisdictions – such complexity further magnifies the situation.
According to Twitch's community guidelines, streamers should abide by the laws in their area, prohibiting any illegal content, with Twitch addressing such issues through suspension or banning after it has investigated a reported illegal gambling incident.
In mid-August, Twitch announced a creator update which prohibits links and referral codes to slots, roulette or dice games. The goal is, according to Twitch, “preventing harm and scams created by questionable gambling services that sponsor content on Twitch.” As a sort of blanket prohibition, it does not differentiate between licensed and unlicensed gambling sites, nor does it include poker, another popular streaming game.
Why do people watch live gambling streams?
It all comes down to this question: Why do people turn to live-streamed gambling? And those who have some issues with gambling might indulge themselves in casino streams in a bid to manage the cravings. There was an episode of the exciting podcast All Bets Are Off about gambling addictions, where two men talked about how live gambling streams had helped them with their recovery.
Interest in these streams could also, however, have no relationship with gambling cravings, focusing on entertainment, excitement, or other gambling motivations such as financial interests.
