There is a new scandal with the Twitch platform and this time it’s about livestreaming of online casinos based on BTC and ETH, which causes gambling addiction.
The streaming platform Twitch announced that it will be shutting down live streams of cryptocurrency gambling games. All broadcasts of online casinos, roulettes and cryptocurrency based slots will be banned on the platform from October 18.
This decision was made after a backlash on social media and Twitch. Although protests against the streaming of cryptocurrency games have been going on for months, a major role was played by the fact that a large number of famous bloggers and media joined them. Some said they would stop cooperating with the platform unless it took action on crypto casinos such as Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com.
Recently, BTC and ETH crypto gambling live streams have become as popular as Fortnite streaming game, which is one of the most popular online games. According to the statistical app TwitchTracker, the number of viewers watching crypto casino live streams can exceed 50,000 people. American media claims that this becomes a big problem, as most viewers gamble with crypto following their “idols” and lose huge amounts of money. Society believes such streams cause addiction to a new type of gambling.
Twitch said it has been trying to resolve this issue for a long time. The distribution of referral links to online casinos are prohibited on the platform, but this is not enough. Streamers who make big deals with crypto casinos (some as high as $1,000,000) find ways to circumvent these bans. The public believes that the only solution is a total ban on such live streams.
Twitch is a significant investor in the SYN City P2E platform. It’s not yet known if they will stop cooperation after the recent events. Both companies declined to comment.