Streamer Adam “B0aty” Lyne is known for his streams of the MMORPG Old RuneScape on Twitch. However, he also plays poker. Now he said he turned down an incredibly lucrative offer because he has personal principles: he plays poker on Twitch, but not blackjack. He explains the difference.
This streamer is about: B0aty is by far the most successful streamer of “Old RuneScape”, a classic version of the already considered old MMORPG.
The streamer was on air for more than 2200 hours with “Old RuneScape” last year, averaging 2275 viewers. In addition, he also played WoW and poker.
When he played poker, 1767 people were still watching him, which is quite a lot for an international poker streamer.
$20,000 for 1.5 hours of roulette and blackjack
This was the offer: According to B0aty, his passion for poker led him to receive an offer for a “sponsored stream” on Twitch. He says:
- he would only have had to stream for one and a half hours
- he would have had 2 weeks to do it
- he would have received $20,000 for it – which would have given him an hourly wage of $13,333
- during that time, B0aty would have had to play blackjack and roulette
This is how he justified the rejection: The streamer says his rules for streaming dictate that he never enter into a sponsor deal for a game that has “house odds”: a house edge.
Roulette and blackjack are “house odds” gambling games because the “house” has a profit advantage here. While in poker, all players are treated equally, different rules apply for the dealer in blackjack than for the players. In roulette, the “0” is a special case, as it is neither black nor red and also does not belong to any third.
Streamer explains the difference between poker and blackjack
The streamer says:
I accept sponsor deals for poker, but with poker, the house has no advantage. It’s a game you can improve at. If you lose all your money in poker, you are a terrible poker player. If you lose all your money in blackjack, that’s exactly what is intended. Think about it.
Adam “B0aty” Lyne
B0aty says: Gambling addiction is a serious problem. Such offers could ruin the lives of many of his viewers, and that would be on his conscience forever.
Therefore, it would be his job to throw away such crap. Besides, he is already damn rich…
The chat of his “Old RuneScape” stream celebrated the streamer and posted “Respect.”
German viewers love gambling on Twitch
What’s behind it: “Gambling” streams are a special case on Twitch. There seems to be a fair amount of money to be made from “sponsor” deals, and the demand for “high roller” streams among viewers is high. However, ethical considerations of streamers play a role in whether they want to expose their audiences to gambling.
Online casinos seem to be specifically making offers to gaming streamers to entice gamers into gambling.
This is a scene in itself that has relatively considerable significance in Germany. Some of the most successful German Twitch streamers have found success with gambling streams or previously had success with them: Currently, the streamer “TheRealKnossi” is the most successful German streamer overall with his slot streams. He averages 55,263 viewers when he broadcasts gambling.
The case of the LoL star PhantomL0rd is well known here, whose gambling scandal around CS:GO got him a lifetime Twitch ban. Since then, he has been suing Twitch.
In 2019, the German Twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris was successful with gambling streams. He once said that since he started with casino streams, a large part of the German community on Twitch has been “casino-tempted.”
After his peak with slots, MontanaBlack switched to FIFA. However, he criticized EA’s sports game as well: FIFA 20 is far worse than any casino.
