Mizkif calls on Twitch to ban gambling in aftermath of ItsSliker drama

The ItsSliker controversy has taken over the streaming community with every major streamer, including OTK co-founder Matthew "Mizkif," reacting to his videos. While some may only limit themselves to criticizing ItsSliker for his gambling debt, Mizkif took the opportunity to call on Twitch to ban gambling streams on the platform.

The debate about the gambling meta has been going on for a long time, and ItsSliker's story as a gambling addict who lied to friends and audiences to fuel his addiction has reignited the debate.

The drama started when multiple people, including big streamers such as Lacari, and Mendo, tweeted about ItsSliker asking them for money under false pretenses but never paying it back.

With a growing number of people accusing him of basically scamming them out of their money, the streamer did a confession stream on Twitch to talk about what he had done and to apologize.

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Mizkif lashes out at Twitch while watching ItsSliker's confession

Over the last couple of years, gambling has become a mainstay on Twitch. Slots, a category dedicated to gambling streams, has entered the list of the top ten most watched games on the platform since May.

With big content creators such as Roshtein, TrainwrecksTV, and xQc leading the charge, gambling was officially more popular than Fortnite or Call of Duty Warzone in the last week on Twitch.

Many people on Twitch have been raising issues against allowing gambling on a website mainly used by children to watch video games.

With ItsSliker going viral for scamming people out of their money so that he could keep on gambling, streamers such as Mizkif had another reason to talk about the bad effects it can have on people.

Timestamp 5:38:46

While listening to ItsSliker's story, he muted the stream to call out Twitch about the issue:

"Twitch, ban f*cking gambling for the love of god."

Mizkif then pointed out that it doesn't matter if ItsSliker did not stream or see people gambling on Twitch to become an addict. By allowing such content to stay on the platform, thousands of potential addicts are coming in contact with gambling streams:

"Look, I don't know where Sliker started gambling from. But for the love of god f*cking god, would you just ban it already. Like, why the f*ck is it on the platform? People like Sliker, is a dime a dozen when it comes to people who are addicted to sh*t and doing similar sh*t that he is."

Mizkif also alluded to a meeting he supposedly had with the authorities about the gambling scene and lashed out at Twitch for not doing anything about it:

"Why is this a thing in 2022? Why did I call Twitch four months ago for a meeting when they wanted to have a meeting about this? You guys have done sh*t. Just ban gambling. I don’t get it. Think about hundreds of people who are like Sliker but have no platform."

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Social media reaction and Bloomberg report

Redditors of the subReddit LivestreamFail immediately jumped on the clip, mostly agreeing with Mizkif and calling for a ban on gambling streams. Many pointed out how crazy it is that they have a separate category called Slots in the first place.

Some pointed out that most of the big streamers were sponsored by these online casinos such as Stake, and weren't really playing with their own money anyway.

Cecilia D'Anastasio, a reporter for Bloomberg covering the gaming business, recently authored an article in August which put a spotlight on the gambling side of Twitch. It also includes a couple of stories from real people who started gambling after watching it on stream.

The article goes deeper into people's accounts and is a serious reminder of what platforming harmful practices can do to impressionable minds. Read more about it here.