Twitch blocks gambling streams as addiction fears mount

Amazon-owned Twitch calls to avoid betting on the video game streaming platform have gone viral on Twitter with the hashtag #StopTwitchGambling

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Twitch announced Wednesday that it will ban sites that broadcast unlicensed roulette, dice or slot machine games as the platform faces concerns about making users addicted to gambling.

The Amazon-owned company’s decision to tighten its policy as of October 18 comes after a popular operator tricked fans and their peers out of money into feeding what it claimed was a gambling addiction.
“Gambling content on Twitch has been a huge topic of discussion in the community,” Twitch, known for streaming video games, said in a tweet.

The platform said that Twitch already bans links or referral codes to sites containing slots, roulette or dice games, but some users have bypassed that through live play.
Twitch said it will ban the broadcast of most gambling games, although it will continue to allow websites focused on sports betting, fantasy sports and poker.

Popular Twitch personalities such as Pokimane have called on the platform to ban gambling, and a tweet from Pokimane repeating that message had garnered more than 316,000 likes as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the hashtag #TwitchStopGambling is gaining traction on Twitter.
Handle streamer ItsSliker posted a video over the weekend saying that he borrowed money from friends and colleagues on Twitch, lied about his reasons but is really using it to gamble.
“This is an example of a gambling addict,” ItsSliker said in the video.