Twitch to update gambling policy in October

polygon.com:

Twitch will be updating its policies regarding gambling on Oct. 18, according to a statement the company posted to its Twitter account, acknowledging the recent spike in debate and discussion around gambling on the platform.

“We’ll be making a policy update on October 18th to prohibit streaming of gambling sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games that aren’t licensed either in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection,” the statement reads. These sites will include Stake, Rollbit, Duelbits, and Roobet among others that Twitch “may identify” as the policy is rolled out. The statement notes that websites focusing on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker will still be allowed.

An update on gambling on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/lckNTY9Edo

The statement comes after popular content creators including Pokimane, HasanAbi, and Asmongold called on Twitch to ban slots content on the platform; the hashtag #TwitchStopGambling began trending across Twitter earlier this week. While live, Pokimane, Mizkif, and Devin Nash had also discussed boycotting the platform if it did not ban gambling, in the form of a one week content strike during the high-ad season over Christmas.

On Monday, news surfaced that a prominent streamer, Sliker, scammed viewers and fellow streamers for over $200,000, as estimated by his peers, and reported by Kotaku, Waypoint, and The Verge. Sliker, who is known for playing Valorant and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, admitted in a Twitch stream that he had misappropriated viewer donations and instead used them to fund a gambling addiction. In the video, he explained how he began gambling on skins in CS:GO.

Twitch already has some measures in place to address gambling;