YouTuber and streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys suggested gambling streams should be banned from Twitch after popular streamer ‘ItsSliker’ admitted publicly to defrauding his followers of thousands of dollars to pay back his growing gambling debts. The Moroccan-Canadian YouTuber expressed her concerns about sponsored gambling streams in a tweet that garnered over 4,600 comments and 258,000 likes.
Fellow streamer Hasan ‘HasanAbi’ Piker joined the discussion and commented the popular streaming platform was making no moves to prohibit such streams due to the massive size of the gambling industry and the substantial revenue it generated. Anys echoed his sentiments, urging the Twitch community to band together and force the video streaming platform to ban this type of content.
like if twitch should ban gambling
— pokimane 🤍 (@pokimanelol) September 18, 2022
The discussion started shortly after streamer ‘ItsSliker’ admitted to defrauding his fans of thousands of dollars to fuel his problem gambling. The controversy originally unfolded after Twitch user ‘Mikelpee’ shared a clip where ‘ItsSliker’ asked his followers to lend him some money because he was allegedly denied access to his bank account.
The popular streamer insisted he would return the funds he borrowed after a couple of months. The clip soon ended up on Reddit, unleashing a wave of comments from followers and other content creators who also granted loans to ‘ItsSliker’. Looking at the comments, Twitch streamer ‘Asmongold’ estimated Sliker owed more than $200,000 to his debtors.
‘ItsSliker’ Admits to Gambling Addiction during Twitch Stream
‘ItsSliker’ then launched a live stream on his Twitch channel and apologized to his followers and fellow content creators. He revealed details about his addiction, stating that things first got out of control after he started gambling with skins in CS: GO. His problematic behavior gradually escalated and he started gambling with real money, spending a substantial portion of his Twitch earnings.
The streamer would lie to his followers claiming that he used to gamble in the past. We would approach fellow streamers for loans and conceal the real reason for borrowing money out of embarrassment. ‘ItsSliker’ eventually admitted on video he had lied about his bank account being locked.
The streamer remarked he had spent most of the funds he borrowed either to fuel his gambling addiction or to repay earlier debts. Despite admitting to lying, ‘ItsSliker’ insisted scamming people was never his intention and emphasized he plans on repaying his debts. The content creator also stressed that he intends to seek professional help for his gambling addiction.
In light of these reverations, top-earning streamers Ludwig Ahgren and ‘xQc’, who were also defrauded, announced their plans to pay back the scammed fans of ‘ItsSliker’. Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel also insisted that gambling should be banned from Twitch despite himself being among the most prominent gamblers on the platform.
Gambling streams have been a hotly debated issue among Twitch viewers and content creators for quite some time now. Many argue this type of content is harmful to young and impressionable users of the platform as it could inspire them to start gambling on the websites that sponsor their favorite streamers. Twitch has not released an official statement at the time of publication.
