OTK streamer Asmongold has revealed that he’s reached out to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to voice his concerns over microtransactions in gaming and their adjacent relationship to gambling.
During a stream on his alternate channel last night, Asmongold mentioned that he has “made contact with Ted Cruz’s office.” While he’s reached out to the senator, he’s not entirely certain that any political or social progress will come from his attempt.
Asmongold also mentioned how he believes that presenting gaming systems like microtransactions and loot boxes as a form of gambling would bring more conservative American politicians in favor of a potential policy change. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill in May 2019 in an attempt to regulate loot boxes and microtransactions in games.
“I think that I can get a lot of religious Republican people on board with this by selling it as gambling, because it is,” Asmongold said. “You’re effectively indoctrinating kids into gambling. I don’t know man, I don’t know either but I really wanna try and do it. I’m actually going to try to do this.”
Earlier this month, a clip of Cruz taking part in an episode of Poker After Dark alongside other internet personalities such as Alexandra Botez and MrBeast surfaced online. Cruz commented on the charity poker game, calling it “ridiculous fun.”
Asmongold likely reached out to Cruz before other senators because Cruz is a senator from Asmongold’s home state of Texas. Last month, Asmongold discussed Cruz’s views and comments on gun control on a stream following the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
