Despite a ban on sponsored gambling content on Amazon’s Twitch streaming platform, some streamers continue to be involved with gambling companies – they now face a ban.

According to news reports, at least 120 accounts streaming Counter-Strike are now potentially facing a ban from the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch.

The platform alleges that these accounts have been promoting gambling products as part of endorsement deals. Twitch originally suspended such partnerships on 18th October 2022, prompting indignation from many top accounts, including Trainwreckstv and xQc, both of whom decided to leave the platform for its rival, Kick.

Counter-Strike Streams Promoting Illegal Skin Gambling Targeted by Twitch

Kick was created as a more liberal-minded alternative to Twitch, allowing users to decide whether they wanted to see streams featuring gambling or gambling endorsements, offering a more user-centric approach.

According to Twitch, the 120 accounts facing bans had been promoting skin gambling sites, which are operators that use Counter-Strike cosmetic items as their main currency. This practice takes advantage of the vibrant economy surrounding these skins.

The websites themselves claim that the skins are not worth real money – particularly after Valve cracked down on this trade – but they still hold value and are considered to be an illegal form of gambling.

However, Twitch has remained firm in its rules on suspending and restricting illegal gambling. The platform considers skin gambling to be just as much an illegal form of gambling as any other unlicensed operation.

Twitch specifically names skin gambling as one of the prohibited forms of gambling in its guidelines. Will this completely eliminate all such partnerships?

Despite Bans, Skin Gambling Promoters Proliferate

Not necessarily. Surprisingly, Twitch is not able to track all of these streamers, and many new ones appear who are usually too small to trigger a more specific review. The issue with illegal skin gambling sites and their sponsorships, however, continues to plague the platform.

Valve, the company behind Counter-Strike, faced several class-action lawsuits accusing the company of facilitating underage gambling, which prompted the developer and publisher to crack down on these platforms.

Nearly a decade after the seminal lawsuit against Valve, gambling sites using skins as currency remain a thriving market that has proven resilient enough to resist Twitch’s community guidelines and continue to flood the platform.