The former Overwatch pro Félix “xQc” Lengyel is the most watched streamer on Twitch. Recently, he received a lot of criticism for his gambling streams. Now he shows some insight, but no remorse.
To the background: After xQc had turned his back on gambling in 2021, he showed it regularly again since May 2022. During this time, he reached 3rd place among the most watched streamers in the Twitch “Slots” category. In terms of viewer numbers, he was even in first place (via sullygnome).
Gambling streams on Twitch had long been discredited. Big streamers made deals with online casinos and earned a lot of money, but their viewers went bankrupt, wrote the US site Bloomberg.
Last week, several big streamers called on Twitch to ban gambling on the platform. Otherwise, they threatened to strike. In fact, Twitch acquiesced and significantly restricted gambling streams – by this time, however, xQc had already stopped showing gambling.
If the casino streamers lose their income starting mid-October, they will at least still have income from subscriptions. How the system works, you can see in the video.
xQc isn’t faking remorse
What does xQc say now? In a stream from September 26, xQc was urged by a viewer in his chat to stop promoting gambling. The streamer reacted with a rant.
xQc claimed that he had received more hate for his gambling streams than people who had done “really horrible things” or covered them up – apparently a reference to the ongoing scandal surrounding streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo.
He also said he was not complaining about the treatment, xQc continued, those were just facts.
However, xQc also admitted that the casino streams had not been okay. He just didn’t care.
I knew gambling was wrong, gambling is wrong, I gambled. People complained, I didn’t give a shit. How hard is that to understand?
xQc via Twitch
Furthermore, xQc stated that he did not expect people to support “his crap”. In that, he sees the difference to other streamers. They would always want to have both, do something wrong, but not want to be criticized for it, according to xQc.
If they get criticized too much, they backtrack quickly – he doesn’t do that. xQc thus stands by his decision to show gambling in streams. However, it seems that he has removed his promo code for the online casino Stake.
You can watch the whole clip here:
xQc welcomes gambling ban
What does xQc say about the restrictions? Despite all the complaining, xQc is nevertheless in favor of a gambling ban on Twitch. However, not because he considers gambling itself bad. Rather, it is the “dishonest content creators” (via dexerto).
In a stream from September 20, xQc criticized his streaming colleagues. They do not show the actual reality of gambling. You cannot trust them, according to xQc.
xQc himself had shown plenty of gambling in his streams, but had been more open about how many hours he was contractually obligated to stream and how much money he had wagered.
What do you think about it? Was the criticism of gambling justified, or were the dishonest streamers the problem? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion.
With over 11 million followers and more than 5 million viewed hours in the last 7 days, xQc is the largest streamer on Twitch. However, in one category, his buddy Kai Cenat has silently passed him: in paid subscriptions.
