Twitch has cracked down on gambling on its platform over the past few years. It updates its rules to restrict streamers from gambling live or gambling sponsors. Soon after, this led to the creation of Kick, a Stake-backed streaming platform.
Promotion of skin gambling is part of the new rules, specifically Counter-Strike skins. It wasn’t allowed and streamers were banned from being sponsored by these sites.
Yet, a lot of streamers are reportedly ignoring the rule. They are still being sponsored by CS gambling sites and this puts them at risk of a ban.
Barron’s report on the sharp increase in productivity of gambling ads on Google and Facebook, the fact has been exposed that 120 of the top 300 most-watched Counter-Strike streams on Twitch were sponsored by a gambling site.
Twitch’s community guidelines state that sponsorships for skins gambling are not allowed. If a streamer breaks these rules, Twitch will remove content, demonetize the channel, or implement a suspension.
Barron’s stated that they spoke to streamers and YouTubers who said that they received offers of nearly $200,000 a month to promote the gambling sites.
A test was done by Barron’s through reporting a stream to Twitch. The said stream was breaking the rules by being sponsored by a gambling site. Nonetheless, they found that the streamer continued streaming live on the platform.
It is not hard to find numerous streams with sponsors for skin gambling sites, if you were to visit the Counter-Strike page on twitch. Some of them even openly gambling.
Late last year, reports indicated that skin gambling sponsorships remained uncontrolled despite the new rules coming into effect. One year into its implementation, it looks like it still is.
Barron found that it wasn’t just Twitch; Google and Meta were also implicated in showing skin gambling ads. CS gambling sites like CSGORoll, Key-Drop, and Hellcase were identified as the biggest spenders on these advertisements.
