Recently Twitch made the headlines as they partially banned gambling from their streaming platform. One of the more popular categories on the platform. But why have they done this?
Who is watching Twitch
According to the demographics, the biggest group of viewers is between the ages of 25 and 34 at 49.7%. And the second biggest group is in the age, 16 to 24-year-olds (22.3%). But just how accurate are these numbers?
First, the TOS on Twitch does not allow for users under the age of 16. Obviously, there will be 0 of those in the statistics. But if we look at the number of Twitch Prime subscribers that are on the platform. Unfortunately, the numbers are from the beginning of 2021. But they were the best ones I could find. In the first 4 months of 2021, the monthly average Twitch Prime subscriber number was 3.627 million.
Why would this matter? The biggest reason is that it is a way for underage people to get free stuff for games. And it will link their Twitch user account to an Amazon prime account. And I will assume that is one of the ways they can get age metrics for users. Not to mention the fact people can just lie on their registration form.
The picture is only for comedic effect in an attempt to lighten a serious topic
This is important for one reason, to know who the crypto casinos are targeting. Even if we only go by the official numbers it is clear to see that the absolute majority of viewers are younger. And what does that mean, they are very impressionable.
And if you spend several hours watching a streamer every week or every day. You form a connection there. And to many, this is what makes it special. You feel like you know the streamer, simply because you have spent so many hours in their company.
It is this bond between the viewer and the streamer that the crypto casinos are targeting. They are paying the streamers to play at their casinos. And of course, it will create very emotionally charged content. Winning big and losing big is very emotional, and that plays directly into the connection between streamer and viewer.
How much is this connection worth?
Well, this is a pretty tricky metric. Mostly because many streamers are not open to how the sponsoring is constructed. Despite laws saying they should be. Or at least there is a grey zone here.
A lot of streamers do get the money they gamble with basically for free. So whether they win or lose is of very little financial consequence to them. And they also on top of this get paid. One of the numbers that streamers have shared here is $35,000. That was what they got offered. And they are by no means one of the largest streamers on the platform or in the gambling segment. Oh, I almost forgot. The $35,000 dollars, that is per hour.
And one thing we know for sure. It is the fact that companies that are solely in the business of making money do not spend money unless they know that they will make more money in return for doing so. And that together with $35,000 an hour should tell you all you need about how profitable it is to pray on the youth of today. getting them hooked on gambling.
https://twitter.com/Twitch/status/1572347129192132611
I for one think the Twitch gambling ban is the very minimum that needs to be done. However, the biggest problem I see surrounding this is that these crypto casinos will be lumped in together with crypto. Making crypto guilty by association. And it will be another tool for legislators to use against crypto. Despite the fact that crypto is no more responsible than normal money is.
What are your thoughts on this situation? Should Twitch do more than just ban some of the types of gambling? Should the government regulate the market further or is a free market eventually going to sort itself out? Please sound off in the comment section down below. If you would like to support me and the content I make, please consider following me, reading my other posts, or why not do both instead.
See you on the interwebs!
Picture provided by: https://pixabay.com/