Twitch has let people gamble on livestreams in some shape or form for more than a decade. However, pressure has been mounting on the Amazon-owned platform to ban it entirely in recent years from streamers and fans alike.
Popular streamers like Felix “xQc” Lengyel have hosted sponsored gambling streams that advertise the highly-addictive and potentially life-ruining habit to the masses, and the consensus is people don’t like it.
It’s not just viewers, either. Everyone from Asmongold to Ludwig Ahgren is on board with making it illegal on the site. However, xQc doesn’t think it’ll happen because it’s a feature in games like Apex Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike, and more.
These mainstream—and extraordinarily popular—franchises, along with many other titles, include loot boxes, which are a less flagrant form of gambling compared to slots streams, but still fit the description.
xQc used that as the basis of his argument.
“If you ban gambling, you have to ban almost half the games,” he explained. “CS:GO loot boxes are gambling. Apex Legends loot boxes are gambling. Half of it is gambling. Therefore, you’d have to ban these.”
Diablo Immortal, Genshin, and even FIFA 22 all incorporate gambling to some degree too. It’s even seen them get banned in countries like Belgium and Netherlands.
The French-Canadian star’s point checks out, at least in part. It would be ironic for Twitch to ban one and not the other, or at least ban streams that show the gambling elements within them, but that doesn’t seem feasible.
Still, that doesn’t mean Twitch won’t crack down on sponsored gambling.
After all, they’re a different beast in the eyes of many because streamers are paid copious amounts of money to host them.
Moreover, from the sponsor’s perspective, the sole purpose of the Twitch streams is to promote gambling to viewers, which is widely considered an ethical issue.
