The Twitch streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel (27) was long addicted to gambling in online casinos. After Twitch banned the platform “Stake”, he has now put half a million US dollars on the final of the football World Cup. He was totally sure that the cool French would win. Argentina is a bunch of Noobs, Lionel Messi is just an “old Boomer”.
What’s going on with gambling on Twitch?
- For about a year and a half, popular streamers earned an outrageous amount of money promoting the casino platform Stake. Streamers have gambled online for high sums in front of tens of thousands of viewers, often losing, but apparently received a lot of money from the casino – in one case, it is said to be 360 million $ over 16 months.
- After protests from uninvolved Twitch streamers claiming that streamers would drive their viewers into addiction and ruin, Twitch has explicitly banned the casino Stake.
- But now streamers are turning to “sports betting”: Even if they have frighteningly little knowledge of the respective sport, streamers are gambling huge amounts. They place their bets once again through their favorite platform: Stake.
“M’Paypal” vs. “the old Boomer” Messi
This was xQc’s bet: The biggest streamer on Twitch, xQc, bet 500,000 $ on a victory for France in the World Cup final on 12/18/2022. He said it was the “EASIEST WIN OF MY LIFE” – xQc writes everything in All-Caps because everything he says is grounded and significant.
He wrote: His “man”, MPaypal, he apparently means Kylian Mbappé, will break the “Noobs” necks.
As a prize, 1.425 million US dollars were at stake.
xQc said he had an “internal main character crystal ball” that he rubbed, and he was sure of his victory.
At 0-2, xQc panicked and hit the eject button
How did it go? Not so well for xQc. When Messi scored the 1-0 for Argentina, xQc had a small seizure and was upset about the “old Boomer” Messi. He can only score when the whole game is frozen.
How did it end? When France was down 0:2, xQc apparently panicked and ended his bet early; he “cashed out”. Of the 500,000 $ he had bet, 495,000 $ were gone, and he left with 5,000 $.
Little was left of the boastful appearance; xQc whimpered a bit and mumbled: He didn’t know what to do; he would take the 5k. The 27-year-old repeatedly ran his hands through his hair and visibly struggled with his betting decision.
Probably xQc suffered excruciating agony after his decision when France came back to 2:2 and for a while it looked like France could win the game. However, the regular time ended in a draw; the bet would have been lost anyway, but after the 2:2 the cashout would have been more lucrative.
How is this being discussed? The decision to “cash out” at 0-2 is viewed critically overall because the consolation prize was so small:
- A user on Twitter says it must be the “worst cash-out” ever.
- Another user says: “That’s why Americans shouldn’t watch soccer.”
But ultimately, the 500,000 $ that xQc lost here will probably be cushioned by some dubious deal. Because xQc also made the new sports bet through his partner: the casino “Stake”.
If you look at it from the outside, you can only conclude that the “celebrated” gambling ban from Twitch has only led to a shift in betting.
The biggest Twitch streamer in the world is addicted to gambling and unhappy about it
