A 19-year-old says he became addicted to gambling streams on Twitch. Now he’s warning others not to make the same mistakes he did.
Gambling content has been a hot topic on Twitch for some time. Critics fear that viewers could be driven into addiction and financial ruin. Content creators, however, insist on the personal responsibility of their fans and at most see the state as responsible.
On Buzzfeed, a 19-year-old now reports how he became addicted to gambling on Twitch and warns others.
If you have problems with gambling yourself or if you are worried about someone close to you, contact the Federal Ministry’s hotline. The advisory team of the BZgA is available on the phone number 0800 1 37 27 00 accessible free of charge and anonymously. Office hours: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 363 days a year (except December 24th and 31st).
MontanaBlack was at times one of the largest streamers in the world with gambling content. He later said he had “contaminated” the German twitch with it.
MontanaBlack’s Career and Life in 2 Minutes: What makes him special?
He started betting when he was 15
how did it start The anonymous author reports that he first encountered gambling when he was 15 on Twitch. That was through streams to CS:GO. The shooter is known for its loot boxes, which can contain valuable skins.
The then 15-year-old began betting with digital items from the game. The links to the betting sites were shared by the streamers he was watching. At that time he played irregularly and with low stakes of 5 to 10 euros per bet.
Since the announcement of Counter-Strike 2, opening boxes has regained popularity on Twitch.
“Streams do not show a realistic picture”
Here’s how the addiction developed: At the age of 18, the author finally came across “casino streams” on Twitch through advertising. Content creators would have shown profits of tens of thousands of euros there. He imagined winning that kind of money.
Now he knows: “[Diese] Streams do not present a realistic picture of gambling.”
What makes the streams so unrealistic? Streamers who make deals with casino sites are likely to be given money to gamble on the stream. Due to the high stakes, you can achieve correspondingly high profits. In this way, some gamble away huge sums without batting an eyelid.
However, the high profits are not attainable for young Twitch users like him, explains the former gambling addict. At the time, however, he suppressed it.
Gambling streamers often celebrate their wins loudly and with lots of roar, like Kevin “OrangeMorange” Bongers here:
Indescribable euphoria when winning
What influence did the streamers have? The 19-year-old reports that he spent 500 to 600 euros a month on gambling during his training, but also spent 1,200 euros within an hour on one evening.
I had lost touch with money because I wasn’t holding it. In the online casino you just click on amounts. The euphoria when I won money was indescribable.
His highest profit was 4,000 euros – of which he gambled almost 3,000 again. During that time, he thought about quitting gambling several times, but the casino streams on Twitch motivated him to keep playing.
This is how the addiction presented itself: After all, he swapped digital gambling for a real casino. For a few months he went there almost every day, although after 10 days he actually had no more money. At that point he no longer watched gambling streams on Twitch, real gambling was more appealing.
On the outside, he didn’t show anything, he worked alongside his technical qualifications, did sports and kept appointments. Accordingly, friends and family would not have noticed anything about the addiction. But when he didn’t go to the casino, he felt “weird”.
19-year-old frees himself from addiction, mourns lost money
This was the turning point: The 19-year-old says he felt he was losing control. But it wasn’t until his account slipped into the red that he realized that things couldn’t go on like this.
how much did he lose In one month he is said to have owed no more than 600 euros, which was quite a lot for him as a student. The ex-addict lost a total of 10,000 euros gambling. He strongly warns others:
For everyone who is on Twitch: Do not watch casino streams – it backfires! And if you can’t get out on your own: get help!
how is he now A few months before writing the article, which was published on May 30, 2023, he quit gambling. The first few weeks were bad, but now he no longer feels the need to gamble.
On Twitch, says the 19-year-old, he now only watches computer games, he no longer follows the casino streamers. Next year he wants to finish his technical diploma in economics. He only mourns the lost money.
Has anything changed on Twitch?
What does he say about the “gambling ban”? “Gambling ban” means the new guidelines that have been in effect on Twitch since October 2022, there is no real ban. The 19-year-old says it’s “total nonsense”.
Certain sites, such as the controversial online casino Stake, may no longer be shown on Twitch, but according to the former addict, this only deters the streamers to a limited extent: they would cover the site’s logo in the stream and use the instant messaging Service Discord cheerfully continues to spread links to the pages.
Some streamers have simply gone to another platform where gambling is less strictly regulated. The head of Twitch just spoke about the ban himself in an interview:
The head of Twitch explains the ban on gambling: “Who checks whether the chances of winning are not manipulated?”