Counter-Strike skin gambling continues on Twitch despite the platform’s efforts to ban it, the video gaming news outlet Dexerto reported. As it turns out, CS skin gambling still happens without prompting action from the Amazon-owned streaming platform.
For reference, Twitch banned CS skin gambling sites, also known as CS case opening sites, from being featured on its site back in August. The platform announced that any promotion of such sites, even of free social versions of such sites, is prohibited under the new policy.
The ban was prompted by the intense scrutiny of such gambling sites’ prevalence across the content sharing platform. Many believe that CS skin gambling can serve as a gateway product that leads to youth gambling.
Twitch heard the calls and introduced the aforementioned ban, just as many fans wanted. When the ban was officially introduced, Twitch officials told Dexerto that this new measure would make it clear what type of promotion is allowed on the streaming service.
However, the Amazon-owned platform does not seem to be very diligent in upholding its own rules.
Dexerto said that Twitch’s ban on CS skin gambling sites has changed virtually nothing on the platform. According to the news outlet, streamers continue to feature and promote such websites regularly without anyone getting banned for it.
Dexerto noted that not a single major channel promoting CS gambling content has been suspended yet. On the contrary, both CS2 streamers and tournament organizers continue to promote case opening sites and stream themselves interacting with such websites. Some even use Twitch extensions like Magic Wheel to win prizes, Dexerto pointed out.
This shows that Twitch’s crackdown on CS case opening sites is not proceeding as planned. The measure was originally expected to impact a multitude of content creators sporting partnerships with CS gambling websites. Such streamers would often provide affiliate codes and feature sponsored segments across their streams.
As of the time of this writing, Twitch has yet to address the situation.
Twitch’s relationship with gambling has always been troubled. The company has been trying to minimize the impact of such content with mixed results. Months ago, it introduced a ban on unlicensed websites that prompted a mass exodus from the platform and sparked the creation of Kick, one of its biggest rivals yet.
However, while many enjoy gambling content, a lot of other viewers have been getting tired of it and are demanding tougher measures.
Speaking of Twitch and its troubled relationship with gambling, the site was just fined by the AGCOM over gambling-related issues.