Twitch may finally call time on hosting gambling content on their site as a new report says they’re in “the midst of a deep-dive” of everything surrounding it.
Whether it be loot boxes in video games or casino slots and card games, gambling has always appeared on Twitch in some form or another – and some streams have been incredibly popular over the years.
Given that Twitch’s audience skews pretty young, there have been plenty of concerns about advertising gambling – especially such high stakes and anything crypto-related – on such a widespread scale, with plenty of calls for Twitch to clamp down on it.
While some streamers have ditched their gambling sponsorships, a number of top names like xQc and Trainwrecks continue to work in partnership with sites like Stake. However, Twitch is on the case somewhat.
Twitch investigating gambling streams & content
According to a report from Bloomberg, which took a deepdive into gambling on Twitch and how some viewers have been affected by it, the streaming platform confirmed they’ve got gambling content under a microscope.
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Twitch is currently “in the midst of a deep-dive look into gambling behavior on Twitch,” a spokesperson told Bloomberg, noting that the platform takes “any potential harm to our community extremely seriously.”
Additionally, Twitch monitors gambling content “closely to ensure our approach mitigates potential harm to our global community,” and as such, has taken away the ability for streamers to share referral links to some websites. Though, many can still get around it with chat messages and other avenues of advertisement.
The outright ban of gambling content would, of course, be the ideal situation for many viewers and streamers, but it’s unknown if Twitch will go that. Though, if they’re investigating things, then all options are likely on the table.
It’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on over the coming months, especially as gambling streams remain pretty popular with viewers.
