We try to analyze the complex relationship between Twitch and gambling, considering the history of some creators and the Italian legislation.
SPECIAL
by Damiano Gerli — 24/09/2022
Twitch is an online streaming platform that, although notoriously dedicated to video games, also offers other content. Simple chiacchiere, ASMR, cooking, as well as stream dal vivo (IRL). Over time, the platform has seen several modes pass, some blocked at birth (like the hot tub), others that have been attacked in a decidedly more resilient manner. One that seems, instead, to have no intention of ceasing to speak and spark controversy is that of gambling: stream in which the creator is dedicated to betting (real) money on his slot and various games, often even from his own public . In this regard, how do you regulate the platform, considering that your public is easily composed even of minors, and what will it be legal to expect in the future?
A first step seems to have been done: Twitch has banned illegal gambling, pur consenting that its site is officially recognized in the USA.
xQc loses two million dollars and causes the problem to explode
xQc
The gambling problem on the platform exploded, mainly, when in June 2021 the French streamer xQc (Felix Lengyel), one of the most important in the world, had declared that he no longer wanted to stream slot machines. Felix felt that he was pushed too much there with his hobby, ending up being involved even on a personal level, revealing that he had lost a figure of around two million dollars in a single month. Shortly after xQc’s announcement, the platform responded by banning promotional links to gambling sites. Subsequently, about a year later, Felix is back to proposing a gambling-themed stream, I’m starting to talk about this type of content on Twitch. Let’s see how the situation is in Italy.
As for Twitch Italia non si siano riscorturati quel type of importi, il discorso sul gioco d’azzardo è stato più che altro focused on the influence that certain streams can have in the face of those who guard, as well as on ludopathy (more correctly defined as gambling disorder, DGA). Il Gabbrone, a streamer who became famous (or better known) for his IRL stream in which he disturbed various people, has recently vented in a video, recounting his problems with the DGA. Il creator menziona l’aver perso svariate miliacia di euro alle slot, finendo per giocare spesso even lontano da Twitch. The streamer recounts that he has reached the point of having begun to hide his mania from others, forced to tell a lie just to find a space to devote to gambling, even escaping to play in the bathroom. “I’ve already had problems in my life, the game of chance has ended by ruining everything,” the streamer mentions between tears.
Twitch and gambling: a problem for everyone
Gabbrone
Su questo penso ci siano pochi dubbi, como xQc che il Gabbrone hanno rivelato, gli streams dedicated to gioco d’azzardo and puntare cifre, senza darsi alcun limite, possono easily rivelarsi un doppio taglio. Per quanto possono aver facile successo si creator siano spur dagli stessi follower a farne di più, questi facilente possono arrecare serious both to the content creator, and to the spectators who subiscono him (more or less) passively. We see what the legal framework is about gambling and advertising in Italy.
The legislative decree 158/12, then subsequently converted into law, does not provide space for a favorable interpretation: advertising of games with money winnings, even via the Internet, inciting the game or promoting the practice are prohibited. The subsequent Decree-Law 87/18 has further exacerbated the situation, placing an absolute ban on the advertising of games and betting, as well as sponsorship and indirect advertising. The regulations then culminated in the so-called Dignity Decree (legislative decree 87/18), which, first of all, described the DGA and the related disturbances, as well as placing some specific tasks of vigilance and sanctions in the head of AGCOM. A potential legal problem for streamers is, in fact, when they are sponsored by a casino site, for example, to play online. The decree, despite the political proclamation, did not seem to be fully effective in controlling gambling advertising. The same AGCOM has noted that it was enough for the casino to be located abroad to avoid the sanction, as well as to present the publicity under the guise of “mere information”. In essence, it would seem that a Twitch streamer can safely shake off two possible legal problems by simply warning his audience that he is dealing with potentially harmful behavior. Alternatively, you just need to be sponsored by a casino based in Switzerland to avoid any possible sanction.
It has surely been observed that recent jurisprudence seems to be moving in a much more restrictive sense, even in relation to the law. A recent pronouncement of the Tar del Lazio (February 2022) has rejected the appeal of a society, considering even a hyperlink as a possible form of indirect advertising. Even more recently, last August, it was the AGCOM that imposed a fine (for a total of 1.5 million euros) against Google and YouTube, precisely for having advertised slot machine gambling .
Twitch ei mancati controlli sull età
The gambling game
In short, the attention towards the advertising of the gambling game seems high, both in the intentions of the legislator and of the judges themselves. Può, forse, stupire quindi scoprire that nothing has been done on the part of Twitch. Especially considering how the law prescribes specific measures and, above all, the absolute prohibition of transmitting gender publicity to minors. As I know, despite Twitch prescribing that you must be at least 13 years old to open an account, you can view a stream without registering. The consequence is that there is no control over the age of those who keep a “gambling” stream.
There are creators like Ivan Grieco, who, for some time now, have been following the game on Twitch and have denounced the dangerousness and potential illegality of it under Italian law. “I always feel that if I wake up too late for certain problems,” Ivan says to me on the phone, “I was talking about the danger of how Twitch carried forward the gambling game well before the pandemic.” The streamer refers in particular to those who often play slot machines, più che a giochi like il poker. “For me, certain streams would not be banned to be banned, even because this rarely works and in a country like ours where, at the end of the day, the gambling game is always present. But, at least Twitch should set very precise rules. ”
Ivan Grieco
Clearly, continues Grieco, the mere signaling of the danger of the contents is not enough “I think that, inevitably, among the twenty thousand people who follow media and a stream, there will surely be minors who will end up trying to play even more, ignoring the comments of the same streamer.”
When was the real boom on the platform? “From what I remember, gambling streams exploded in 2019, then they increased exponentially,” continues Ivan. “During the pandemic I found him right on the front page, well publicized on the platform. Frankly, my father doesn’t want to intervene on Twitch, after all there are streams that make good numbers, why bother disturbing them? They already have problems growing i number soi como sono…”
The Gabbrone cries, but the others don’t laugh
The Gabbrone
Il Gabbrone, a streamer who became famous (or better, noto) for his IRL stream, si è fogato in a video narrating his problems with the DGA and having gotten several thousands of euros playing offline. The streamer mentions that he got to the point where he started having to hide his mania from others, getting away to playing in the bathroom. “Having already had problems in my life, the game ended up ruining me completely” says the streamer in a video. Beyond the problems mentioned by Grieco, such as that of Gabbrone, beyond personal judgments on the quality of the content proposed, they tell of a rather unbalanced relationship between viewer and streamer. Very easily, the personal problems of those who create online content of this kind, which spends hours having a direct relationship with another person, end up being huge and worsened by those who keep it.
The biggest problem in the relationship between the streamers who gamble (along with Gabbrone, also others very followed like Freneh and Tumblurr) and Twitch, in any case, can be found in the lack of transparency on the part of the Amazon platform. Non si conosce che type di accordi ci siano between streamer and casino, non si viene sapere se questi streamer siano sponizzati and se il denaro che giocano si true or meno. In short, as citato da Grieco, the platform does not sow, so far, interested in touching the phenomenon. As much as a passive attitude can be justified in the case of “passenger mode”, like the streamers that sucked on the microphone, it definitely cannot be in this case. In the face of gambling, we have already seen how a gray area of poor communication and poor transparency can easily cause many problems.
Is the warning enough to discourage gambling?
After a Bloomberg article last month, last month, Twitch has declared that it intends to conduct a precise analysis of certain content. Just a few days ago the platform has declared that, from October 18, they will ban the “streaming of sites dedicated to gambling that include slots, roulette or dice games”, in particular for sites outside the United States or that “they do not offer adequate jurisdiction”. Nothing, however, provides Twitch for the protection of minors, as well as providing that streaming of sports betting and fantasy poker will continue to be allowed. Of course, for expressly banning gambling sites such as Stake, the ban becomes easily aggirable by moving the headquarters of the same to the United States. If it is a step in the right direction, it does not seem sufficient to contrast the phenomenon decisively. Evaluating further measures, in addition to those already decided in 2021.
In this respect, however, Ivan Grieco cites his lack of confidence “for now I say vediamo, molti mi dicono che Twitch sarebe in un periodo di cadenza. Di certo hanno tutte le carte, e , considering the enormous economic availability and the power of i soldi da Amazon, hanno tutti gli strumenti to be able to improve the platform a lot, both as rules and as technology, but for now my father has done little and nothing.” What emerges with certainty is that, in addition to some positive things going forward, if Twitch truly cared about the safety of users and creators who use the platform, it would not allow itself to continue to ignore the game’s problem ‘azzardo ancora a lungo.
