A big crackdown on users streaming unlicensed operators' slots, roulette, or dice games was announced this week by Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch. However, for a long time, there was tension surrounding the slot streams. The complete history of Twitch and casino streams is explained by iGB.
Netflix in 2016
As the streaming industry as a whole and gaming streaming site Twitch have grown rapidly in the past few years, pioneers in the field are starting to cash in on the trend by broadcasting their experiences at online casinos. In 2016, two of the most popular streamers during the prohibition, CasinoDaddy and Roshtein, started streaming slot machines. Even CasinoGrounds, which became into a mecca for slot streamers in 2016, began as a forum for people who broadcast casino games.
"The casino streaming scene on Twitch was a cosy and intimate space for all the fans of video slots," Roshtein remarked on the "About" section of his website. "I was greeted with open arms and encouraged to pursue my passion by only a couple of casino streamers..."
The first type of gambling to encounter a significant crackdown from Twitch was betting utilising in-game items from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
However, Twitch did try to crack down on skin betting, a type of gambling, early on. Developer Valve of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive issued cease-and-desist notices to skin betting sites, prompting Twitch to issue a warning to its viewers, stating that any streams endorsing such sites would be removed.
year 2018
By year's end, there had grown a sizable audience interested in gambling at casinos. According to analytics site TwitchTracker, the platform's casino gambling category, which was initially comprised of 18 channels and attracted roughly 4,500 viewers per day, was formed in September 2018.
The company subsequently established a dedicated slots category in December 2018, which immediately began drawing over 10,000 viewers daily and nearly five million total hours of viewership that month.
In late 2018, Twitch launched its very own slots category.
The section had already caused a stir when an article on Eurogamer, a gaming news site, pointed out that it supported a lot of unlicensed operators and had almost no age-limiting features. Meanwhile, a Kotaku piece from October 2018 noted that certain accounts centred around casinos seemed suspiciously high-viewing, which many users felt couldn't have happened organically.
In 2019, the number of hours spent watching casino games online increased by a factor of two every month. As major igaming companies started to get on board, users were able to connect their Twitch and PokerStars accounts through an in-client connector that PokerStars introduced.
However, controversy persisted. Some casino channels gained over half a million new followers in 30 days, putting them at the top of the fastest-growing channels on the site. However, users pointed out that the numbers seemed to be artificially inflated.
year 2020
Casino streaming became more popular than ever before due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since many other kinds of entertainment were inaccessible, there was a meteoric rise in the popularity of online casinos and streaming services generally, and of online casino games in particular.
With a 24-hour streaming challenge in April, LetsGiveItaSpin host Kim Hultman raised €47,000 for COVID relief groups.
At the same time, a poll that was published in July 2020 included 1,081 persons from the UK, and 4.1% of those people reported having watched an online gambler's live broadcast in the previous year.
In 2020 and the beginning of 2021, slot feeds saw a meteoric rise in viewership.
The impending crackdown on gambling was not widely anticipated at the time. As the year came to a close, Twitch showed some support for the industry by introducing "Twitch predictions," a free-to-play tool that allowed players to wager points on the results of live-streamed games.
In the first half of 2021...
More and more people in the online casino industry and the broader streaming community started to recognise the possibilities offered by casino games.
One of the companies that took advantage of the new acquisition channel was Acroud, a superaffiliate, which announced ambitions to create a new community of streamers and provide a "all-in-one service" to help streamers expand their channel.
Concurrently, cryptocurrency casinos inked sponsorship partnerships with prominent streamers like Tyler "Trainwreckstv" Niknam and Felix "xQc" Lengyel.
June of the year 2021
The debate around Twitch casino streams really gained momentum. After admitting to being "slightly, if not moderately, addicted" to gambling, Lengyel declared on June 28 that he would be discontinuing his gaming sessions.
Streamers using casino-funded accounts or otherwise exaggerating the dangers was a known secret among many content providers. According to Niknam, a lot of artists "eliminate the risk of losing their own money" by using "fake balances."
The most-promoted gambling operator on Twitch at the time was Stake.com, a bitcoin casino that accepts players from all around the world but only has a Curaçao license.
A large portion of Twitch's user base started protesting the proliferation of gambling games on the site. Twitter users Zack "Asmongold" Breen of World of Warcraft and Imane "Pokimane" Anys, two of the site's most prominent users, have both voiced their disapproval of the large number of famous streamers who have accepted casino deals.
In July of 2021, viewers got a glimpse of the high stakes world of casino streaming when Adam Ross inadvertently exposed his private messages on air. Ross said that he was "getting more" from Roobet in his replies to his discussions with cryptocasino Duelbits, where the operator claimed to offer $1.6 million every month.
money
By the year 2021, slot streamers were making over $1 million monthly.
Soon after, Niknam admitted on stream that he was making $1 million monthly from advertising gambling websites.
The gambling sector was severely punished by Twitch in August 2021. Starting from August 17th, it forbade any links or referral codes to websites that offered slot machines, roulette, or dice games.
Twitch announced in a creator update that they would be prohibiting the sharing of links and referral codes to sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games in an effort to stop harm and scams caused by dubious firms that promote content on Twitch.
Some companies that focused on gaming were fast to capitalise on the opportunity. The Kafe Rocks Group's affiliate site Time2play has introduced a new streaming platform that includes age-gating and other player protection measures to avoid the problems that Twitch streamers encountered.
"The content that the gambling streamers create is obviously in demand," stated Simon Pilkington, CEO of Kafe Rocks. "Our goal is to make sure it reaches the right audience in the right setting."
Not long after that, LiveSpins came up, allowing spectators to wager with streams and providing broadcasting directly into operator sites.
Towards the end of 2021
While the prohibition did have an immediate effect on slots streaming, it did not eradicate the genre entirely. Even though it was lower than the previous year, slots streaming still managed 18.3 million hours of viewing time in October 2021.
Viewership gradually started to rise again after that.
March 2022 Slots viewing hours on Twitch surpassed levels recorded prior to the connection restriction, reaching a new record high of 36.3 million.
In May, when Lengyel made a triumphant comeback to streaming slots, the segment came under further scrutiny. Advertisers on Twitch were urged in a Change.org petition that same month to work towards a prohibition on gambling-related content on the platform.
After leaving Twitch for YouTube in April, League of Legends streamer Sykkuno came up with the now-popular term "gambling meta" in May while criticising the platform.
From June to August of the year 2022
Casino streaming surpassed Call of Duty: Warzone and landed just one spot behind esports phenomenon Dota, becoming one of the top ten categories on Twitch.
After agreeing to an undisclosed size deal with Stake.com, hip-hop sensation Drake became the largest figure to join the casino streaming industry. He reached a peak of 112,000 concurrent viewers on his second stream. The rapper allegedly laid down over $1 billion in just two months, according to affiliate Casino.org.
The genre is still under investigation; Stake.com admitted to Bloomberg that it was "currently in the midst of a deep-dive look into gambling behaviour on Twitch" when asked about its partnership with Canadian rapper Drake, who streamed casino games on Twitch. Additionally, Breen contacted US Senator Ted Cruz, urging the Republican Party heavyweight to advocate for a prohibition of gaming on the platform.
In the month of September the year 2022
A fresh scandal has added fuel to the fire surrounding gambling on Twitch. After becoming addicted to betting on esports matches, Abraham "Sliker" Mohammed confessed to defrauding fans and other content creators of at least $200,000.
The disclosure caused a bigger outcry against the category of casino games, even if Mohammed did not stream them. Anys spearheaded a group of streamers who threatened to quit the site unless it addressed the problem of gambling. Anys herself has over nine million followers and frequently used Twitter to demand stricter regulations on gambling.
In light of this most recent scandal, Twitch has banned the streaming of slot machines, roulette, and dice games played on unauthorised sites like Stake.com.
Looking ahead
Only next month, when the new prohibition officially takes effect, will people start to notice it. The platform has assured users that more details will be made clear before it is implemented. Currently, there is some confusion because there isn't enough information to determine what constitutes an adequate degree of regulation or a casino-first site.
On the other hand, competing streaming companies may use the prohibition as a chance to launch a gambling-centric streaming service that can better address Twitch's issues.
