The past few months have not been easy for the crypto industry.
The list of headaches afflicting the young industry is growing day by day: falling prices, proliferating scams, bankruptcy filings among prominent lenders and platforms, ominous remarks from regulators suggesting stricter rules, caution from institutional investors, and departures by millions of small investors who've lost funds and faith.
Now add to this list a serious setback taken by a growing segment of the crypto sphere: gambling. Twitch, Amazon's (AMZN) live-streaming platform, has just decided to ban some of the most prominent live-streaming gambling sites.
Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com and Roobet.com, which present themselves as crypto casinos and crypto and NFT gambling and betting places, will no longer be allowed on Twitch.
Ban Could Be Extended to Others
This ban will be effective Oct. 18, Twitch said in a statement published on Twitter on Sept. 20.
"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," the platform said.
"So, we'll be making a policy update on October 18 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 firm continued.
It added: "These sites will include Stake.com, Rollbit.con, Duelbits.con, and Roobet.com. However, we may identify others as we move forward."
The announcement comes after several days of mobilization by users, including star streamers, who generally denounced the authorization of gambling on the platform.
But the recent grumbling has been fueled by the fact that one of the streamers appears to have scammed large sums of money from others because of his gambling addiction.
It all started with a stream by ItsSliker, a U.K.-based streamer who has more than 430,000 subscribers. ItsSliker, who gained popularity in 2019, most often plays gambling games like Valorant and Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
He is accused of tricking Twitch viewers and other influencers into lending him large sums of money.
ItsSliker claimed his bank account was frozen and he needed help while the account was frozen.
Crypto Gambling on the Rise
He recently said, in a video, that he was addicted to gambling and that he'd borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from other creators to finance his sports bets.
The hashtag #TwitchStopGambling has been spreading across social media in recent days.
As the situation spread, influential Twitch figures including Pokimane, Devin Nash, Mizkif, Ludwig and Hasan Piker called on the company to ban gambling on the platform, with some threatening to boycott for a week in protest.
Thousands of people are watching more and more influencers and celebrities compete on Twitch through slots, blackjack and other games of chance by betting with cryptocurrencies. According to Bloomberg, Stake.com sponsors top influencers by paying them $1 million a month.
The popularity of gambling with bitcoin, ether and other coins is on the rise on Twitch and is among the top tier of popular categories.
