Twitch has hit the news again for a gambling-related controversy concerning one of the content creators at the site. This time it’s been sparked by a tearful apology made by streamer ItsSliker. In an emotional stream, ItsSliker admitted to scamming large sums of money from streamers and fans to pay off a growing gambling debt.
On September 17, fans and streamers came forward with accusations that ItsSliker had scammed them out of thousands of dollars. Fellow streamer ‘mikelpee’ shared a video that is said to have come from ItsSliker, since gone viral, asking for money because his bank account had become locked. Another content creator, ‘lukeafk’ claims to have sent ItsSliker $27,000, saying he trusted his friend but is yet to be paid back.
This opened the floodgates on a bunch of streamers and subs, claiming they had given the streamer money, some saying they’d been waiting months or years to be paid back. Amongst them, big-name Twitch streamers Trainwrecks and xQc claimed to have been asked to send money. xQc apparently refused, while Trainwrecks is said to have given a lot – allegedly $100,000.
Back to the confession, which took place on September 18, ItsSliker has come clean, saying he borrowed the money due to a gambling addiction and that he ‘lied to many people.’ During the confession, ItsSliker adamantly avoided labelling himself a victim and said it began with an addiction to CS:GO skins.
From there, the situation escalated, saying he gambled; ‘Basically, all my Twitch money‘, following with, ‘I would come across streamers and ask them if I could borrow money. I wouldn’t give them the reason obviously. Because it was gambling, I would lie to them.’ He made a point of saying he ‘never intended in scamming anyone‘ and said he would pay back people who sent him funds. Part of the confession also included a warning that ‘This is what gambling has done for me…. This is the epitome of a fucking gambling addict. I used to lie to my views and say to my views, “I used to gamble a long time ago” it was a lie. I used to continuously gamble.’
The reactions to the confession have been mixed, as they have been to the whole Twitch gambling meta issue for a while now. On one side of the debate are content creators like Pokimane, who have called for gambling to be banned from the site. She recently tweeted ‘Like if twitch should ban gambling’, which subsequently went on to generate more than 100,000 likes.
like if twitch should ban gambling
— pokimane 🤍 (@pokimanelol) September 18, 2022
Pokimane is far from being alone in calling for Twitch to take a heavier stance on gambling, yet others have a different viewpoint. TrainwrecksTV, for example, made a distinction between content and content creators, saying. ‘… people scapegoating Slots, Blackjack, and Roulette and not blaming the individual are the real problem.’ However, TrainwrecksTV also stated that influencers abusing viewers should be kicked from the platform, ‘…the streamers and viewers who sell a false reality should be banned. People who gate keep giveaways through codes that require you to gamble should be banned. People who hide all losses and only show wins should be banned.’
A couple of fellow streamers, xQc and Ludwig Ahgren, responded to ItsSliker’s confession by saying they would help people get their money back. On September 18, xQc tweeted, ‘We are aware about this @Sliker situation and the victims who we’re scammed out of their hard-earned money. Heartbreaking. Me and @LudwigAhgren will be trying our best to get money back to those people. This is about the victims, only them. This will take time. Its ~$300,000.’ Ludwig Ahgren tweeted a similar message, ending with ‘It’s time Twitch does something.’
