The US site Bloomberg has examined the crypto casino Stake in a report: It is supposed to make special deals with Twitch streamers to offset their losses in online gambling. They also spoke with viewers of the streamers who followed their role models like Félix “xQc” Lengyel or Trainwreck and have gone bankrupt because of it.
What kind of report is this? The site “Bloomberg” looked into the crypto casino “Stake” and spoke with several streamers, players, the casino itself, and Twitch.
However, they encountered a wall of silence from the streamers. No one wanted to reveal what deals they had closed with the casino (via bloomberg).
Streamers like xQc promote the casino but don’t reveal how much they are getting
What is the casino like on the streamers’ side? Bloomberg asked several streamers like xQc or Trainwreck, but none wanted to comment on the deals they made with the crypto casino Stake. However, it is known:
- The streamer Mizkif was offered 19 million US dollars in a year if he plays on Stake in front of his audience. Mizkif says: When he saw that a 14-year-old viewer was playing on a site he had promoted, he stopped streaming gambling because he just felt terrible.
- The streamer xQc shared a promo code from the casino in May 2021: It is not known how much money he received for it. According to his own statements, xQc has now wagered over 685 million US dollars at the casino Stake (via twitch). The Canadian says, he is addicted to gambling.
- The streamer Trainwreck said six months ago that he makes “much more than a million US dollars a month at Stake” (via twitch).
- The rapper Drake is said to have started with a balance of 9 million US dollars – it is also unknown what deal he made with Stake.
Bloomberg explicitly criticizes this lack of transparency: The streamers do not explain to their viewers what their deals with Stake look like. It is unclear how much money they receive from the casino and how much of their losses at the casino are real and which are compensated.
Twitch viewers go bankrupt because they follow the streamers
What is Stake like from the viewers’ perspective? Bloomberg spoke with 26-year-old Enneric Chabot, who became aware of Stake through xQc. He signed up there using a promo code from the Canadian.
In a conversation with Bloomberg, he says: At first, he bet 1 $ on the gambling machines and it made him happy, but it quickly went downhill:
I started losing and losing.
Enneric Chabot
Within a few months, Chabot had lost 40,000 $, then took out two bank loans of 20,000 $ each and blew them as well. In the end, he had to declare personal bankruptcy.
He says, although the decision to bet was his own, the joy of Twitch streamers while gaming tempted him to do so.
Twitch streamers actually have other ways to make a lot of money:
“Twitch streamers give viewers a false sense of losing and winning”
Bloomberg also speaks with Indian Vaibhav Kumar (25). He also found his way into online gambling through streamers sponsored by Stake. He says:
As the initial excitement wore off, watching someone gamble so much money turned me off and made me sick. It gives viewers a wrong idea of winning and losing.
Vaibhav Kumar
Kumar says he mainly watched streamers who were sponsored by Stake until he realized that the losses were offset by lucrative promo deals.
However, he had to bear his own losses completely.
Twitch monitors gambling closely
What does Twitch think? Slots, or gambling, is now a large category on Twitch, but that doesn’t have to last forever.
To Bloomberg, a Twitch spokesperson said: They are currently closely monitoring gambling behavior. They have now prohibited posting such promo links like the one xQc promoted for the casino in May 2021.
Now it says:
We take every possible risk to our community very seriously. Although gambling content only accounts for a very small part of the content on Twitch, we are closely monitoring it to ensure that our approach keeps potential dangers away from our global community.
Twitch
New regulations end gambling hype in Germany
What does it look like in Germany? Even in Germany, some big streamers like MontanaBlack or Knossi have indulged in gambling on Twitch for years and built up a large audience.
There was also significant criticism of their behavior: The ZDF Magazine Royale has extensively dealt with Knossi and uncovered dubious connections to Malta, which seem very similar to what Bloomberg is currently criticizing.
Due to new regulations, gambling on German Twitch has significantly decreased in recent months.
Some of the biggest streamers in the world showcase gambling on Twitch
What is it like in the USA? In the USA, the phenomenon has increased significantly in recent months:
- Trainwreckstv is number 19 in the world. He showed 148 hours of gambling in the last 30 days
- ROSHTEIN is number 13 in the world – He showed 262 hours of gambling in the last 30 days
- xQc remains number 1 worldwide in viewed hours for the last 30 days – he spent 44 hours gambling, making it his “most streamed category” after Just Chatting
- Overall, slots is the 8th largest category on Twitch by average viewer numbers – trend strongly increasing.
Although Knossi and MontanaBlack stated that they had stopped gambling for moral reasons, we at MeinMMO spoke with lawyer Christian Solmecke a few days ago to explain the situation regarding gambling on Twitch in Germany:
Why is MontanaBlack really not showing gambling on Twitch anymore? We asked a lawyer
