After months of debate over whether Twitch should allow gambling content on its website, the platform has made the decision to restrict its promotion from creators.
In a Creator Update that was shared with users today, Twitch announced that it will prohibit links and referral codes to gambling websites. They claim this action will prevent harm and scams.
“To prevent harm and scams created by questionable gambling services that sponsor content on Twitch, we will prohibit sharing links and/or referral codes to sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games,” the announcement says. “We will continue to monitor gambling-related content and update our approach as needed.”
This change won’t immediately come into effect. Instead, creators will have until Aug. 17 to remove this content from their channels.
Throughout July, massive creators came out against gambling on Twitch, stating that it should be banned altogether. While this isn’t the decision that Twitch has made, the removal of affiliate links and codes is a step in that direction.
In late June, the European country of Slovakia chose to ban Twitch entirely after a creator in the region broadcast themselves illegally playing poker. Following this, we saw creators asking for Twitch to take action removing this type of content from the platform entirely with fears that it could cause negative repercussions for all creators.
As Twitch shared in its update, the rules on gambling streams could change in the future while they continue to monitor the situation, but right now it doesn’t appear there are any further plans.
