This story was originally published on Passionfruit.
“I can’t continue what I’m doing,” ItsSliker said on a September livestream to around 7,000 viewers on Twitch. “I don’t want to continue with the gambling, I want to stop it.”
The streamer with over 400,000 followers on Twitch had just admitted to taking tens of thousands of dollars from others to fund his gambling addiction. Claiming that he had bills to pay or needed to purchase flight tickets, he would message content creators and fans, all under the guise that he would eventually pay them back. Though ItsSilker never gambled on camera, the platform he streamed on supported a culture that could have fed into his behavior.
Gambling on Twitch has always been a contemptuous, but profitable, pastime. Creators stream themselves betting on poker, bets, or slot machines, with fans living for the highs and lows of money being splurged that isn’t theirs. Some top creators like xQc and TrainwrecksTV, spend millions of dollars on crypto gambling sites that claim to offer huge payouts. On stream, xQc admitted to wagering over $685 million, while TrainwrecksTV has admitted to losing over $22 million gambling.
