Twitch takes aim at gambling meta by banning referral codes & links for slots, roulette

Phone with Twitch logo in front of slot machinesTwitch

Twitch is taking action against gambling streams on its platform to protect its users from potential scams and harmful content by banning referral codes/links to slots, roulettes, and more.

Popular content creators like xQc and Trainwrecks have championed the gambling meta on Twitch, among others. But the platform is now barring the biggest incentive to run those streams in the first place.

On August 11, Twitch released a notice to their creators telling them to clear out any content that promotes links or referral codes to services that have been propelling the gamba meta.

Article continues after ad

Streams will have less than a week to purge their channels and VODs from the new rules that will soon go into effect. Twitch will decide if any further action will be warranted against gambling streams.

Twitch
New rules on Twitch will limit the promotion of links and referral codes to gambling sites.

“To prevent harm and scams created by questionable gambling services that sponsor content on Twitch, we will prohibit sharing links and/or referral codes to sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games,” a Twitch advisory said.

“We will continue to monitor gambling-related content and update our approach as needed. To give you time to remove this content from your channel, enforcement will be delayed until August 17, 2021.”

Article continues after ad

Twitch did not immediately respond to Dexerto’s request for comment.

Twitch
Twitch’s wording suggest gambling streams won’t be banned, but referral codes/links to sites that offer those services will be.

This comes on the heels of debates among streamers like Pokimane, Asmongold, MoistCr1TiKaL, and more speaking out against gambling on Twitch. Some streamers, like Trainswrecks and xQc, insist their content was transparent and above water.

Twitch streamers, and to a lesser extent the gambling sites they partner with, will now have much less of a reason to run those streams without the benefits from referral codes and links.

Article continues after ad

While those kinds of streams won’t be outright banned, this is a direct action against the gambling meta that has been steadily growing on Twitch.