Twitch vs. Gambling: Gamers & Crypto Casinos

October 3, 2022 iGaming & Gambling

Twitch is one of the most popular video hosting / live streaming platforms on the internet right now. What originally started as a medium through which one could “cast” games (meaning broadcast them to a crowd of people live), has now become a popular venue for creators to share their thoughts and opinions on topics ranging from video games, to online gambling, to even everyday life.

Recently, Twitch streamers have been focusing more and more on gambling, especially on crypto casinos and online gambling. This increase in popularity has lured quite a few gamers, who ordinarily might not have found their ways to crypto casinos, to try their hand at playing poker, roulette, blackjack and more, all the while wagering cryptocurrency to do it.

What is Crypto Gambling?
For those who may be unaware, first we need to address what crypto gambling is. The name says it all really. Crypto gambling is just gambling in which you use cryptocurrency to play. Gambling has, in recent years, been undergoing a sort of renaissance. Online gambling websites have made sure that more and more people are being exposed to the public. As you can imagine, online gambling involves playing all your favorite games on a website.

It is from online gambling that crypto casinos evolved. Crypto casinos aren’t much different from online casinos. In fact, the only real difference is that, when playing crypto casinos, the players wager using cryptocurrency. These casinos have been gaining massive popularity recently, especially because they are being promoted by quite a few Twitch streamers online.

Crypto casinos have been around since the 2010s. During this time, all forms of online gambling were not nearly as popular as they are today. However, in the past 5 or so years, casino websites and crypto casinos have drastically risen in esteem. They’ve become a lot safer to use, much better regulated, and a ton of people have become exposed to them.

Despite these improvements to the websites, some people are still having problems with the growth of crypto casino livestreams on Twitch. The voices of these people might just have an impact, as Twitch is considering banning any and all crypto gambling livestreams.

Twitch to Ban Crypto Gambling Livestreams
In response to this growth in popularity of crypto casino livestreams, rumors have arisen that Twitch might be bringing down the ban hammer. In other words, the company is considering a full on ban on any and all gambling livestreams, especially the ones that involve cryptocurrency gambling. So, just what has prompted Twitch to ban these streams?

In the past couple of weeks, quite a few Twitch streamers, some of whom are hugely popular, have criticized the platform for allowing these livestreams to go unchecked. It is precisely because of these criticisms, that the Platform was considering terminating these types of livestreams.

The idea is that the popularity of these streams is leading to more and more people becoming “hooked” on crypto casinos, and gambling in general. A lot of the more popular influencers have made the arguments that crypto casinos are not safe and that most Twitch users are too young to be using them.