Exploring the scope of illicit betting promotions on Twitch: What's the genuine extent of the predicament?
The streaming service Twitch is under heavy criticism: The root cause of this is influencers and streamers who consistently endorse unlawful gambling activities on Twitch. This also poses a threat to youth protection, as numerous minors utilize the platform. The case of German influencer Ron Bielecki, aged 25, underscores that this problem extends to Germany as well.
Unlawful Gambling on Twitch
Twitch is a live streaming video platform based in the United States. Users can watch influencers and streamers engage in various games. While gaming and e-sports are popular content on Twitch, illegal gambling is occasionally promoted as well.
Streamers show their participation in unlawful gambling and urge their viewers to do the same. There isn't a general ban on promoting gambling on Twitch. To do so, streamers need a legitimate license from providers and evidence of compliance with youth protection regulations. Nonetheless, users can still stream casino and gambling content on Twitch.
Twitch is now under intense scrutiny and is taking more stringent measures against unauthorized content due to the criticism it's facing. Twitch must abide by the legislation of the country it operates in. Promoting unlawful gambling on the platform could lead to severe penalties, not only for Twitch but also for influencers and streamers who break the law.
Legal Action Against a German Influencer on Twitch
German influencer Ron Bielecki is also dealing with allegations of promoting illegal gambling offers on Twitch. The 25-year-old is quite successful on the platform, boasting around 150,000 followers.
The Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office accuses him of promoting illegal gambling in his Twitch and YouTube streams between October 2021 and May 2022. He is said to have made advertisements for a gambling provider without a license for the German market in a total of 37 streams.
Bielecki was sentenced by the Public Prosecutor's Office to pay 480,000 euros. However, his lawyers have filed an appeal, so the proceedings are ongoing. Bielecki claims that the videos have been tampered with. Unknown individuals are said to have edited the advertisements into his videos, and he has no involvement in illegal gambling.
The Bielecki case indicates that German authorities are determined to crack down on advertising for unlicensed gambling. Influencers and streamers have a broad reach, which could encourage many people to partake in illegal gambling. Moreover, their primary target audience often consists of young people and young adults.
Lawyer Sinan Akcakaya, who represents several influencers, raised concerns about the issue in an interview with WirtschaftsWoche:
As an influencer, I have to be extremely careful about what, when, and who I advertise to. A lot of money is made off of minors and gambling addicts.– Sinan Akcakaya, Lawyer, WirtschaftsWoche
Advertising for Illegal Gambling on Other Platforms
Twitch isn't the only platform where streamers promote illegal gambling. As Bielecki's case demonstrates, YouTube also faces issues with advertisements for unlicensed providers. Monitoring all streams and verifying their legality proves challenging for the platform.
On one hand, monitoring all activities and streams would be a massive undertaking due to Twitch's vast user base of 970 million individuals worldwide. On the other hand, gambling laws differ from country to country, necessitating case-by-case reviews.
Another challenge is user response to restrictions and bans. After Twitch introduced new guidelines, the platform lost around 75% of its gambling viewers.
Two alternatives to Twitch and YouTube, Kick and Rumble, reportedly allow gambling streams in full. However, they're likely to face legal conflicts sooner or later.
Twitch Threatened with Ban in Sweden
The problem of advertising illegal gambling on Twitch and other streaming platforms isn't limited to Germany. Recently, a Swedish TV station exposed how Swedish Twitch streamers are promoting illegal gambling. Influencers displayed their gameplay and encouraged viewers to sign up with certain providers. The station discovered that these were illegal gambling websites. Swedish gambling law prohibits advertising unlicensed providers, so Twitch could be fined or even face a complete ban in Sweden.
How Will Twitch Handle This Issue?
Currently, Twitch appears to only suspend streams that promote gambling providers without valid licenses and age verification. However, the platform seems incapable of catching all violations, allowing illegal gambling providers to continue being promoted. Even streamers seem unaware of their responsibilities.
Twitch faces the challenge of it being nearly impossible for the platform operators to monitor all streams and prevent advertising of illegal gambling. In the future, the streaming platform could face legal consequences in other countries as well. It remains to be seen if the operators can solve this problem.
Twitch's issue with unlawful gambling extensions beyond Germany, as German influencer Ron Bielecki, with over 150,000 followers, faces allegations of promoting illegal gambling offers on his Twitch and YouTube streams. (Unlawful Gambling on Twitch)
With the continued promotion of illegal gambling on platforms like Twitch, German lawyer Sinan Akcakaya stressed the importance for influencers to be cautious regarding who and what they advertise, fearing the exploitation of young people and gambling addicts. (Legal Action Against a German Influencer on Twitch)
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