On October 18, the long-awaited new gambling regulations on Twitch came into effect. The streaming platform had received a lot of praise for this step in advance, but now disillusionment seems to be setting in – and in the case of Theo “Scurrows” Bottländer, a German casino streamer, there is also schadenfreude.
What are the new regulations about? Many viewers had long seen gambling on Twitch as a thorn in their side. The accusation: Streamers were making millions from it while their viewers were driven to ruin.
The scam scandal involving Twitch streamer ItsSlikeR brought new energy to the discussion in September. Some of the biggest names on the platform even threatened to boycott if Twitch did not take action against gambling.
The action was successful: On September 21, Twitch announced it would revise its rules. Sites that do not provide adequate consumer protection would be banned in the future. However, the changes were to take effect only on October 18. Now the time has come.
What do the new regulations look like now? Twitch has focused on virtual one-armed bandits (“slots”), roulette and dice games in the new regulations. Here’s what is now prohibited:
- Streamers are not allowed to share referral codes for such providers
- Banners containing a link to the provider are also prohibited
- Moreover, no verbal references to the providers are allowed
What impact does this have on streams? Prohibited sites cannot be shown on stream. This also includes the online casino Stake, with which many of the gambling streamers like Corinna Kopf or even xQc had a deal. The German streamers Scurrows and Orangemorange were also linked to Stake.
Whether a website is banned depends on various factors, according to Twitch:
- Are there security measures like deposit limits, waiting times, and age verification?
- Are streamers using VPNs to bypass geo-blocks or recommending them?
- Does the site hold a license in a country that provides adequate consumer protection?
The full guidelines can be read here.
Scurrows celebrates the new regulations with a round of slots
How are the reactions? Many feel the new regulations do not go far enough (via Twitter). They are disappointed that Twitch’s new regulations fall short of expectations. Nevertheless, the new regulations are a step in the right direction (via Twitter).
However, one seems to be happy: Scurrows wrote a series of tweets on the topic on October 18. Among them was a link to his Twitch channel, stating he is now live in the slots category (via Twitter).
Later, Scurrows reported that viewers would receive a warning for mentioning the banned online casino Stake in the chat. He took the opportunity to thank Twitch for not banning slots altogether.
Apart from Twitch, Scurrows also targeted the influencers who had campaigned against gambling streams. They are now suspiciously quiet – for him, a sign that they were not really behind the issue (via Twitter).
So did the new regulations not achieve anything? That’s not entirely true. Looking at the slots category on Twitch, where a large part of the gambling had taken place, a significant decline can be observed.
Apparently, many streamers went all out for a last hurrah before it quieted down. Even Scurrows seems to be focusing more on role-playing in GTA V again, something he originally gained fame for (via sullygnome).
A Twitter user even declared the death of the slots category. There were only just over 7000 viewers there – at its peak, there were over 200,000 (via sullygnome).
How the slots category on Twitch will develop further and whether there will be future deals with other providers for streamers remains to be seen.
What do you think? Did you expect more from Twitch, or did everything go pretty much as expected? Are you disappointed or do you welcome the step in the right direction? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.
Apart from gambling in the form of slots or roulette, there is also ongoing discussion about whether opening so-called loot boxes in games constitutes a form of gambling. A German streamer wants to set an example now.
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