The tumultuous history of Twitch and its casino streamers

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. In 2016, CasinoGrounds was also founded as a community for people who broadcast casino games. Since then, it has grown into a mecca for slots streamers. 

Roshtein stated in his website's "About" section that the casino streaming scene on Twitch was a welcoming and personal place for video slot enthusiasts. "I was only approached by a handful of casino streamers who were really supportive and encouraged me to follow my dreams." 

The first type of gambling to encounter a significant crackdown from Twitch was betting utilising in-game items from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 
Also, Twitch tried to crack down on skin betting—a kind of gambling—early on. Twitch informed its viewers that it must halt feeds advertising skin betting sites after Valve, developer of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, gave out cease-and-desist notices to such sites. 

year 2018 
As the year came to a close, there was a noticeable uptick in interest in gambling at casinos. Originally consisting of 18 channels, the platform's casino gambling category was founded in September 2018 and, according to analytics site TwitchTracker, attracted approximately 4,500 views daily. 

After that, in December 2018, the company made a dedicated slots category, which immediately gained over 10,000 daily viewers and about five million total hours of viewership that month. 

Twitch launched their slots section towards the end of 2018. 
An article on the video gaming news site Eurogamer pointed out that the section supported a number of illegal operators and had little to no age-gating of content, so the section quickly became a topic of controversy. While this was going on, an article in Kotaku from October 2018 noted that certain accounts with a focus on casinos seemed suspiciously high-profile, amassing overnight viewership that many users felt couldn't have happened organically. 

There was a noticeable uptick in the number of hours watched online casino games in 2019, with monthly viewing hours more than doubling. 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. Despite fans pointing out that the figures appeared to be artificially inflated, casino channels continued to rank among the platform's fastest-growing channels, with some acquiring over half a million new followers in 30 days. 

year 2020 
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the already rapid rise of online casino streaming. Online casinos and streaming services, especially those that offered live versions of casino games, exploded in popularity as an alternative to traditional media during this time of limited availability. 

The host of the LetsGiveItaSpin channel, Kim Hultman, earned €47,000 for COVID-19 relief organisations in April through a 24-hour streaming challenge. 

In the meanwhile, a poll conducted in July 2020 among 1,081 persons in the UK indicated that 4.1% of those who participated had witnessed an internet gambler's live stream within the previous year. 

In 2020 and the beginning of 2021, slot feeds saw a meteoric rise in viewership. 
Not many red flags indicated that a gambling crackdown was on the horizon 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. 

Meanwhile, well-known streamers like Tyler "Trainwreckstv" Niknam and Felix "xQc" Lengyel inked sponsorship deals with casinos that accepted cryptocurrencies. 

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. 

The open secret of broadcasters utilising casino funds or otherwise exaggerating the dangers was also being discussed by various video makers. Some artists "eliminate the risk of losing their own money" by using "fake balances," according to Niknam. 

At this stage, the most-promoted gambling operator on Twitch was Stake.com, a bitcoin casino that is only licensed in Curaçao but welcomes consumers from numerous other markets. 

The proliferation of gambling games on Twitch prompted many in the larger community to voice their disapproval. World of Warcraft streamer Zack "Asmongold" Breen demanded an end to live casino games on Twitter, and one of the site's most prominent users, Imane "Pokimane" Anys, also took issue with the fact that many famous streamers accepted gambling arrangements. 

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 2021, monthly deals for slot streamers were over $1 million. 
In the aftermath, Niknam declared live on stream that he was making $1 million monthly via gambling site promotions. 

The gambling sector was severely punished by Twitch in August 2021. As of August 17th, it forbade the use of any referral codes or links to any website that offered gambling games including slots, roulette, or dice. 

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. 

A few companies whose focus is on video games jumped at the chance. In an effort to avoid the problems that Twitch streamers encountered, Time2play—an affiliate site owned by the Kafe Rocks Group—launched a new streaming platform that included age-gating and other player protection features. 

Streamers that focus on gambling have a following, according to Simon Pilkington, CEO of Kafe Rocks. "Our goal is to contribute to its proper placement and distribution to the intended audience." 

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. In October 2021, the number of hours seen by slots streaming reached a low of 18.3 million, which was more than the previous year's total. 

From that point on, viewership numbers started to gradually rise again. 

In March of 2022, the number of hours spent watching slots on Twitch surpassed the levels seen prior to the link restriction, reaching 36.3 million. 

Since Lengyel's return to streaming slots in May, the program has been under more scrutiny. That same month, a petition on Change.org demanded that Twitch's advertising department work towards a prohibition on gambling-related content on the platform. 

In May, League of Legends streamer Sykkuno, who had already left Twitch for YouTube in April, used the now-popular term "gambling meta" to criticise the platform. 

July–August 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. 

Drake, a superstar in the hip-hop industry, signed an undisclosed deal with Stake.com, making him the largest name to join the casino streaming area. At its peak, his second feed had 112,000 viewers all at once. Affiliate Casino.org asserted that the rapper had staked over $1 billion in just two months. 

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. While this was going on, Breen contacted US Senator Ted Cruz and urged the Republican Party heavyweight to seek a ban on gambling on the platform. 

In the month of September the year 2022 
In the wake of a fresh scandal, the discourse surrounding gambling on Twitch has only heated up. 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. 

Going forward 
Only next month, when the new prohibition officially takes effect, will people start to notice it. However, the platform has pledged to provide further details 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.