NICKMERCS claims gambling on Kick is ‘part of the contract,’ Kick exec says otherwise

What contract is he talking about?

Streamer NICKMERCS wearing a headset, likely talking to his chat on-stream.
Screengrab via NICKMERCS on Twitch

NICKMERCS told fans today that he’ll be doing some streams outside of where he typically broadcasts to gamble on Kick, raising questions about his contract.

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In a clip that quickly started to circulate on social media today, NICKMERCS told his audience that it is “part of the contract” for him to do gambling on stream. While he didn’t specify what contract he was talking about in the clip, many people immediately assumed that it was his Kick contract.

The nature of the clip turned a number of heads, with other creators chiming in to express how potentially problematic it would be for a platform contract to require someone to gamble on stream. Summing the situation up with just one word, Ludwig said the situation is “concerning” in a reply to a Dexerto tweet about the news.

It didn’t take long for someone from Kick to add their voice to the social media fray, either. Attempting to stymie what seems to be a flood of misinformation based on NICKMERCS’ clip, Kick head of strategic partnerships Andrew Santamaria reposted the viral clip with a comment of his own.

“There is no gamba clause in the Kick contract,” Santamaria said.

In a reply, streaming news aggregator Jake Lucky claimed the “contract” NICKMERCS is referring to is one with Stake, an online casino with ownership ties to Kick. It’s unclear exactly what contract NICKMERCS was talking about, but he did make it clear that he will have to leave the U.S. to do these streams and he also said he won’t be doing them regularly.

This is significant because Kick was created shortly after Twitch changed its rules regarding sponsored gambling streams, and Stake was among the online casinos that were banned from the platform. As a fresh platform with different rules, Kick became the new place for that gambling content.

Author
Image of Max Miceli
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.