Twitch to Ban Gambling Sites After Streamers Threatened to Strike

Twitch said Tuesday it will remove high-profile gambling sites from the Amazon-owned streaming platform after a number of high-profile streamers like Pokimane, Mizkif and Devin Nash threatened a boycott of Twitch during peak traffic periods.

In a statement, Twitch said it would no longer allow the "streaming of gambling sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games." That list of sites is currently limited to Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com but could expand as Twitch continues to investigate. The ban is set to go into effect on Oct. 18. 

"Gambling content on Twitch has been a big topic of discussion in the community, and something we've been actively reviewing since our last policy update in this area," Twitch said. "While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette or dice games, we've seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm."

Gambling has long been an issue on Twitch. Many streamers openly promote gambling sites to their young audiences. Earlier this week, a streamer named Sliker admitted to scamming over $200,000 to fund a gambling addiction that began with Sliker using Counter-Strike "skins" to place bets. Since skins -- in-game outfits, essentially -- have monetary value, many third-party sites allow users to place bets on professional Counter Strike matches using these skins.

It was this incident that inspired many of Twitch's highest profile streamers to demand action on the Gambling issues plaguing Twitch. In the wake of this decision, many are celebrating.

Poker, sports betting and fantasy sports will still be allowed under the new rules, but Twitch plans to expand on the details in the coming month.