The news just came out and had the effect of a bomb for casino streamers. Twitch just announced that they are taking action against referral links and codes for online gambling websites. Today, Become Gambler is giving you insight regarding this decision and what it changes for the casino streamers.
Since the first Covid-19 lockdown, Twitch slots section has been growing like crazy. More and more streamers are broadcasting their daily sessions, and the bigger ones have a huge audience. But 5 lines of text that appeared yesterday on Twitch website could make things a bit more difficult for online casino streamers. Let’s see what that announcement was about.
What did Twitch say exactly?
In their statement, Twitch informed its audience and creators that it is putting « restrictions on gambling-related links ». This decision is taken to prevent scams from untrustworthy gambling websites that sponsor some streamers. Yes, you read this right. While the majority of streamers are only promoting reliable online casinos, they are paying for the greediness of the unscrupulous ones.
Twitch now prohibits sharing links and/or referral codes to websites that offer slots, roulette or dice games. To make it simple, Twitch makes it impossible to share online casino referral links to your audience.
Finally, Twitch adds that it will continue to monitor gambling-related content and adapt its approach if needed to. Streamers have until August 17, 2021 to remove this kind of content from their respective channels.
Find a screen grab from Twitch’s announcement just below:
Is casino streaming now banned from Twitch?
No, it is not. It is still allowed to stream your casino sessions on Twitch. What is not allowed is to provide direct links to casino websites on your Twitch channel. While it is not specified, it most likely includes the streaming overlay, the messages in chat as well as the channel’s information tab. It also includes oral promotion, of course. Be assured, your favourite casino streamer will still be there tomorrow.
After this announcement, one question comes to mind: while direct promotion is forbidden, are indirect links tolerated? Can streamers promote their Twitter, their Discord server or even their website where they provide affiliation links to their audience? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question as of now.
Do casino streamers have a solution to continue generating revenue?
Let’s be honest. The smallest casino streamers, who don’t have more than 300 – 400 average viewers will have a hard time keeping their head above water. For bigger casino streamers, although it will shrink their revenue, they are already working on alternative solutions to keep their business afloat.
If they already built a strong community on their social channels, that’s a good point for them. What is even better is if they have built a well referenced website thanks to SEO and blog posts.
Could this decision have been anticipated?
Yes. A lot of streamers were very aware that slots was a vulnerable section of the streaming platform. It is very solid in term of viewership, with 40 000 average viewers per month. Just like YouTube banned promotion of gambling-related websites, a decision of this sort was feared by casino streamers.
Twitch has taken a first step in regulating casino streaming on their platform. Let’s hope they find a well-thought solution to keep this section online while making it a safer place.
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