Twitch To Ban Unlicensed Gambling Streams Effective October 18

It’s been a rough week for Twitch, starting with a broadcaster stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his viewers and other artists. Naturally, this was followed by a ton of backlash. Even though broadcasters were first thrilled by the idea of a complete ban, they are now beginning to get more insights into its plans.

The company has said that it intends to implement a policy that would ban the streaming of some websites relating to cryptocurrency gambling. Slots, roulette, and dice sites that are not licensed in the United States or “other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection” will be prohibited from being streamed.

Some of the websites on the blacklist include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, and Duelbit.com, and Twitch has hinted that it may add more in the future. The company affirmed that it will not limit participating in fantasy sports like fantasy football and poker.

“Gambling content on Twitch has been a big topic of discussion in the community, and something we’ve been actively reviewing since our last policy update in this area. While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette or dice games, we’ve seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm.”

Twitch statement

The controversy around gambling-related material on Twitch has been ongoing for some time. It wasn’t the first time an incident like this one was a cause for concern. There has been pushback from streamers and users on the platform because of the prevalence of gambling categories that might have negative impacts, especially on younger users, if not regulated.

Other Big Changes

Additionally, Twitch is decreasing the amount of money it gives to some of its most popular broadcasters. In most cases at the moment, streamers who have partnerships split the money from paid subscriptions evenly. What this implies is that the streamer keeps half of the money made via their channel and Twitch keeps the other half.

However, the income split will shift since Twitch has negotiated premium membership rates with some of the larger broadcasters, who now share the money 70/30. According to a blog post by Twitch president Dan Clancy, the new rules will go into force on June 1, 2023, and even then, only when a streamer’s contract with Twitch is up for renewal.

Obviously, these alterations will have an effect on the future of Twitch. Creators will very definitely have opinions on this, and it will be fascinating to observe how audiences respond.