YouTuber and streamer moistcr1tikal has called the new gambling trend on Twitch “dangerous” due to the amount of young and impressionable users on the site.
Gambling is nothing new to Twitch. Since the very early days there’s been categories for Casino games, Poker, and even one for Slot games specifically.
In recent weeks though, the popularity of gambling on the site has exploded among top streamers, and Charles ‘moistcr1tikal’ White thinks streamers throwing around a lot of cash while gambling could be a “dangerous” trend to set.
Charlie is a man who has his finger on the pulse of what’s hot in the world of Twitch and the wider internet at any given moment, and just as he said, a lot of top streamers including xQc and others are currently on a gambling-stream kick.
“I see gambling’s been kind of f**king big these days. That’s a little dangerous,” Cr1TiKaL said with a sigh. “I see a lot of young people watching, I was watching, and it seems a bit dangerous, I think.”
Mechanics like loot boxes are often criticized for introducing elements of gambling to children, but the new trend of more and more big-name streamers playing casino games and openly gambling with real money on Twitch just cuts out the middleman completely.
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The danger here is, as Charlie described, “when you see your favorite streamer hit a huge payday and you’re like an impressionable 15, 16-year-old.”
The obvious pitfalls of gambling that younger viewers might not be aware of is that you’ll most likely lose all of your money trying to win it big, which just will not happen to the vast majority of people. Look at it this way, how do you think casinos stay in business? It’s not by giving out jackpot after jackpot.
So if you find yourself intrigued after watching your favorite streamer trying their luck at slots or any other game of chance, just remember one thing: the house always wins.
