In late 2022, Twitch revealed its intention to clamp down on gambling activities on its platform. The move was prompted by growing concerns from some of Twitch’s top creators, who expressed their disappointment with the site’s lack of action against streams where thousands of dollars were being wagered in front of susceptible audiences.
A number of off-shore licensed crypto casinos, including Rollbit.com and Stake.com, were singled out as the primary culprits and banned by the end of the year. This came as a blow to Trainwrecks, who was receiving sponsorship from Stake.com to gamble on his streams. In response, Trainwrecks announced his departure from Twitch to Kick.com, a competing streaming platform that is owned by Stake.
Trainwrecks has previously stated that Twitch’s attempts to ban gambling streams will only have limited success, and it seems he was correct in his predictions. Despite the new restrictions, gambling streams persist on the platform, and new off-shore crypto casinos have popped up.
Recently, Trainwrecks hosted a broadcast where he demonstrated to his audience that gambling streams were still actively being broadcasted on Twitch, with thousands of concurrent viewers tuning in to watch Slots and Virtual Casino categories. This was a clear indication that the ban was not as effective as Twitch had hoped.
Trainwrecks then marveled at the irony of being targeted, despite being the “only one” who was openly and transparently gambling on his streams. He stated that he was offering warnings about the reality of losing 99% of the time and winning just 1% of the time.
Despite Twitch’s efforts to restrict gambling streams, both the Slots and Virtual Casino categories are still available and thriving, with Twitch yet to fully eliminate the genre from its platform. Despite the restrictions, it seems that gambling streams continue to be widely popular on the platform on a daily basis.
