Via arecent report by PCGamesN, creators Mizkif, Pokimane, and Devin Nash had a lengthy conversation about their disdain for the presence of gambling content on Twitch during a recent stream. They called on Twitch to act on their requests to ban this type of content, as they considered its rising ubiquity to be very concerning. They spoke about streamers who had trouble veering back to standard gaming streams due to their addiction, they mentioned how gambling games can be the top category at certain times of the day, and overall spoke about how harmful looking at gambling streams can be.
“Is this really what twitch streaming has come to?” Pokimane asked, then expressed surprise that anyone cares about ‘Hot Tub streams’ when gambling is a much bigger problem. Indeed, the rise of gambling content over the past few years has been staggering. Many slot-machine-like gambling games garner high views on Twitch, with clips of big wins going viral throughout the internet.
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The trio of streamers spoke favorably about the concept of a “Twitch blackout.” The idea would be for streamers to not go live for a week during Christmas time until the gambling issue is properly addressed. The holiday season was specifically chosen because it would be a bigger hit to Twitch’s ad revenue. Though the plan isn’t set in stone, the three of them said they’d be on board.
They talked about writing a joint statement to Twitch, informing them that if a concession isn’t made regarding gambling on the site, then the boycott would take place. The more streamers participate, the higher likelihood that Twitch will feel forced to address this. “If you really think gambling is that bad," said Pokimane, “you should be willing to take a week off.”
Devin Nash further elaborated onTwitterconcerning why he believes Twitch has yet to take any action. He claims that Twitch actually isn’t making more money by allowing gambling streams, because “legitimate advertisers” hesitate to put their products in front of such content. So besides just suffering from reputational damage, the site is losing out on money. Nash states that the reason for the lack of action is bureaucratic; though there are people working there who areforbanning gambling content, it’s difficult to push these plans through the hierarchal pipeline.
