Star Twitch gambling streamer hits out at potential ban
Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel dismisses notion gambling streaming could be banned despite Twitch’s ongoing review
A leading Twitch streamer has hit out at claims the platform could ban gambling streams as part of its ongoing review of operations.
Félix Lengyel (also known as xQc or xQcOW), who boasts more than 11 million followers on Twitch, is a regular streamer of gambling content and is sponsored by crypto-operator Stake.com.
Lengyel revealed earlier this week that since May he has wagered more than $685m.
Twitch is currently looking into the world of gambling streaming on its platform, with concerns over its potential impact on young people.
A Twitch spokesperson told financial news company Bloomberg: “ currently in the midst of a deep dive look into gambling behaviour on Twitch. We take any potential harm to our community extremely seriously.
“While gambling content represents a very small fraction of the content streamed on Twitch, we monitor it closely to ensure our approach mitigates potential harm to our global community.”
Twitch has clamped down on the sharing of links or referral codes by streamers on behalf of gambling companies via sponsorship agreements.
Reacting to a question from one of his viewers, Lengyel was bullish on and dismissive of any potential ban for gambling streaming on the platform.
He said: “Thoughts on Twitch removing gambling? I don’t think they could do that. I think everyone can understand why they won’t remove gambling, I think it’s a simple concept.”
“Why? Well, it’s not about the money. If you ban gambling, you have to ban almost half the games .
“You’re going to say whataboutism, half the games have gambling in them, unfortunately. CS:GO boxes are gambling, Apex opening boxes is gambling, half of it is gambling so, therefore, you’d have to ban these,” Lengyel added.