Pokimane criticizes Trainwrecks’ defense of gambling streams: “You're losing people money”
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Gambling streams have become increasingly common on Twitch, as top streamers broadcast their gambling wins and losses to thousands of viewers. That said, they’ve also been a highly-debated topic, and now Pokimane has weighed in.
Streamers like xQc, Trainwrecks and Adin Ross have seen a lot of success with their gambling streams, both in terms of viewership and the money they make off of it.
Adin revealed that he and his housemates — FaZe Banks, Mike Majlak, RiceGum and Sommer Ray — are being paid approximately $2m a month for their sponsored gambling streams.
It’s something many streamers and top influencers have called out, but it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon.
While Trainwrecks defended his streams by saying that his losses are “a great example of why you shouldn’t gamble,” Poki doesn’t think his defense holds much weight.
“That’s his perspective, but he’s convincing himself that that’s true when in reality he has no data or evidence to back that up,” she explained. “However, we do have evidence to the contrary, which is the fact that these companies are giving him money every single month, which means that his viewers are indeed losing money on these sites every single month.”
Pokimane concluded: “As much as you want to say that the tactics and precautions you do prevent people from gambling, ultimately you are losing people money, and the proof is in the check you get every month.”
Poki goes on to add that “you can’t get demographic numbers from Twitch” and that it’s “very, very hard,” questioning how Train got an Excel spreadsheet with that information on it.
Needless to say, as controversial a topic as these gambling streams are, Pokimane has clearly sided herself with those opposed to it. It’ll be interesting to see whether Twitch ever deem it an issue and take action.
