In a move sure to cause a community rift, Twitch has implemented a ban on promoting CS:GO skin gambling. An update to their Community Guidelines specifically mentions CS:GO skin gambling as being prohibited on the popular streaming site.
Right now, it’s unclear whether the ban extends to the streaming of any CS:GO skin gambling site, or whether it specifically targets promotional streams. While the wording from Twitch is vague, it does seem that any streaming of third-party skin gambling leads to a ban.
Credit: Twitch
Creator Implications
Gambling on Twitch has been a point of contention for a while. Many feel it encourages minors to gamble, causing long-term issues. Others believe that when regulated and marketed as something that can lead to financial loss, it’s less of a problem.
Credit: Daniel Morris
CS:GO skins are a huge market, leading to them becoming popular currency for gamblers. It’s not uncommon for both current and former players to enter into partnerships with gambling sites, which inevitably leads to promotional streams.
If this is a total ban, then the implications are huge. It eliminates a massive revenue source for many CS:GO Twitch streamers, which could see a migration toward sites like Kick. As part of the new Community Guidelines, Twitch also claims that streamers can’t “share links or affiliate codes to sites that contain slots, roulette, or dice games.” Considering the nature of CS:GO skin gambling sites and how they do business with streamers, it seems unfathomable that these partnerships remain within the site’s rules.
That’s not to mention teams – G2 recently signed a partnership with CSGORoll, with the site now promoted on the jersey. Is this breaking the rules? While the situation is still developing, it’ll be interesting to see how militant Twitch is about applying these rules in the coming weeks.
