Recently, Twitch responded to the ever-growing gambling category on the streaming platform. One month ago, the company announced about gambling content ban. At present, gambling websites that include slots, roulette, or dice games are not allowed on Twitch. But this policy only applies to those that aren’t licensed in the US. Pay attention - will still be allowed to fantasy sports, sports betting, or poker.
Of course, on one hand, this big gambling ban is good news for the Twitch community, but not so simple. Analyzing the situation for a month after this, we can note a downward trend in traffic flows. In other words, this led to the loss of viewership. Because, gambling popularity to increase in the last few years and many users want to enjoy poker, roulette, slots, and other online casino games.
Most streaming platforms are part of the gambling community, and it’s no secret that many streamers offer gambling content to their audience. It was also on Twitch. But now, Twitch changed its policies about gambling content and removed it from the menu, and updated its “Prohibited gaming content” section. This happened due to a number of controversies on the platform and numerous fan protests.
The motivation was the struggle against illegal business and the protection of users from the harmful effects of gambling. When Twitch community has reacted negatively due to the influence of popular gambling streamers on young fans who have also become addicted to gambling. By the way, many streamers told about their gambling debts, which amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, this tough decision has received a lot of backlash and according to some reports, hurting the platform’s popularity. Whatever it was, if earlier Twitch remained the main player in streaming content, currently its reach has fallen by 22% in just a month. While its competitor YouTube has even increased.
Perhaps Twitch will reconsider some of its policies and find another way to please its streamers or users. In any case, it will be interesting to see what happens next. But something will definitely change!
