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Twitch bans crypto-casinos, but all other forms are still allowed

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Crypto-casino streaming has been banned by Twitch, but the platform still enables vast amounts of fiat currency gambling. The industry however should take care with promoting such high levels of gambling to young audiences, says Pavlos Sideris, director of Double Up Media. 

 

The decision by the streaming giant Twitch to ban gambling websites whose content includes “slots, roulette, or dice games that aren’t licensed either in the US or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection” has been described as a clampdown on gambling-related streaming.    

It is true that the Amazon-owned group has, at a purely technical level, placed a ban on unlicensed gambling sites that stream players playing their online gambling products, but in reality it only refers to crypto-backed casinos, which make up so much of the casino content that is streamed. 

Twitch however hasn’t banned ‘traditional’ online casino, sports betting or poker operators and affiliates that are regulated in the US (or other major markets).   

This is no coincidence. It may be stating the obvious, but the reason Twitch decided to ban cryptocurrency-backed casino play from being streamed is because it is not regulated in the US and as a US company it doesn’t want to attract any more controversy than it already has when it comes to this issue. 

The fact that crypto-casino is also not regulated in the UK and other European markets also played a part, but the audience levels generated by casino streamers in the US are that much more significant, while many of the biggest (regulated) casino channels have marketing agreements with major US brands and are highly active on the platform.    

 

Streaming exposure

The lack of crypto regulation did not stop the large crypto brands such as Stake.com, Duelbits or Roobet from streaming online casino play and subsidising streamers with major sponsorship contracts to ensure they continue to broadcast to their thousands of followers. 

This has given them significant exposure and, one imagines, enabled them to recruit huge amounts of players. These customers will have watched the rap superstar Drake win $12m on a single roulette spin on Stake.com, having lost more than $800k betting on sports a few hours before, and will have been enticed to open accounts with those operators. 

In 2021 and as a nod to wanting to protect its audiences from too much gambling exposure, Twitch outlawed referral codes and affiliate links. The measure however will not have prevented thousands of consumers from easily finding the sites online; while the decision by some of the sites to not accept players from the US is easily circumvented by VPNs.

In fact, looking at its decision to ban crypto-casino streaming, one may wonder what has taken Twitch so long to adopt the measure. After all, crypto-backed casinos and sportsbooks have always been unregulated in the US, UK and other major markets.  

Of course, the reason Twitch did not ban them earlier is commercial. The streams by celebrities like Drake and sponsored players such as Mizkif, Trainwrecks or Niknam attracted huge audiences and that would have been the only metric Twitch paid attention to. 

 

Reputational concern 

Conversely, the most likely factor to influence Twitch into banning crypto casino sites will have been reputational. Cheating scandals or streamers fleecing players out of significant amounts of money to fund their gambling activities have created huge controversies and shone a most unflattering light on Twitch’s ready acceptance of crypto casino play.  

The site is owned by the e-commerce giant Amazon, which likely decided that the safest way to avoid further scandals is to ban crypto casinos outright.

The other obvious point to make is that Twitch on the whole appeals to much younger demographics than those that might play on ‘regular’ slot sites. The company’s advertising and media information says “nearly 75% of Twitch viewers are between the ages of 16 and 34”.

The idea that thousands of young Twitch watchers might have been led into opening accounts on sites that were (and still are) unregulated and where they may have spent huge amounts of money while potentially developing gambling problems would be enough to give any public affairs or compliance executive significant worries. 

 

No gambling ban

In an echo of the point made at the start of this article, campaigners and industry observers have been quick to point out that the new measure by Twitch “isn’t an outright ban on gambling” but just “a blow to crypto casinos”. 

Indeed, what some campaigners want is a complete ban on the streaming of online slots and other casino games on Twitch, because, they say, “it is objectively harmful to the website and its users” and Twitch’s ban on unregulated operators still means that “luck-based gambling will still be alive and well on the website on October 18th” when the ban on crypto casinos comes in. 

A ban is unlikely to happen in the near or medium term at least and a quick scan of the ‘Slots’ homepage on Twitch shows that the crypto casino channels have now been replaced by more ‘traditional’ ones.

In addition, with competing streaming platforms such as DLive more than willing to accept crypto (or other) casino streamers, it seems unlikely that Twitch will broaden its ban to ‘traditional’ casino channels.     

 

Mass availability 

Twitch’s rise as a showcase for online slots and other casino games has been steady and long trailed over the past few years. 

What the platform also shows is that live casino continues to evolve. From its original and current incarnation as a product aimed mainly at VIPs and ‘whales’ on regular casino websites,  to one that, thanks to Twitch, is becoming more focused on online slots and has been made available to a much broader and younger section of the population.

Without wanting to be too alarmist, the fact that younger demographics are exposed to gambling products much earlier than might have been the case in the past should be a cause for concern for all of us as stakeholders. 

There have already been a number of addiction or problem gambling stories of young players who became familiar with gambling through Twitch. Criticising the industry for not intervening earlier will be of no use if all gambling streaming eventually gets banned on Twitch.

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MightyTips launches snappy Football Tips format for casual and pro bettors alike

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MightyTips launches snappy Football Tips format for casual and pro bettors alike

 

MightyTips unveils a major product update — Football Tips, a dynamic new feature that delivers fast, curated football betting advice tailored for today’s users.

MightyTips is a leading platform dedicated to helping sports bettors make smarter decisions through in-depth sportsbook reviews, up-to-date bonus offers, expert betting blogs, and insightful match previews. While offering a wide range of content for bettors at all levels, the platform’s core focus has always been on delivering accurate predictions empowering users to place educated bets.

But as digital habits shift and the need for actionable insights grows, the platform is stepping into a new chapter. Football Tips are built to meet users where they are — with lighter, faster, and more personalised content that enhances the betting experience.

Ivo Osis, Product Owner at MightyTips, said: “This launch represents a major evolution in how MightyTips serves its audience. With Football Tips, we’re opening up our platform to casual and pro bettors alike, providing smarter insights in a more scalable format, driven to improve user experience and frictionless journey through the world of football betting.”

Key features of Football Tips:

  • Match of the Day highlight – instantly find the most important game to bet on, hand-selected by expert analysts
  • Quick match briefs – save time with short, insightful tips written by trusted football authors
  • Tipsters’ stats on every tip – check each tipster’s accuracy to build transparency and trust
  • My Saved Choice feature – save favourite tips and revisit them anytime
  • More matches, more options – explore tips beyond just predictions and expect other sports coming soon, such as tennis and cricket
  • Easy navigation by tip type – find exactly what you’re looking for, whether it’s 1X2, BTTS, or Over/Under tips, all one click away

This new format enhances usability, increases engagement, and broadens access to MightyTips’ expert content. It’s part of a wider strategy to modernise content delivery across sports and improve the overall user journey

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Mikael Strunge is appointed as the new President and CEO of ACROUD

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Mikael Strunge is appointed as the new President and CEO of ACROUD

 

The board of directors of ACROUD AB has appointed Mikael Strunge as the new President and CEO of Acroud. Mikael Strunge, born in 1981, has worked within Acroud for four years in various roles in different parts of the company, most recently as COO. Mikael Strunge succeeds Robert Andersson.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Robert Andersson for his leadership and contributions over the past years. We are pleased to appoint Mikael Strunge as our new President and CEO. Mikael brings deep operational insight and a clear strategic vision, and we are confident that under his leadership, Acroud will enter its next phase of growth and innovation”, says Morten Marcussen, Chairman of Acroud.

“The last 4 years at Acroud has been a rollercoaster of emotions and results. I am proud to accept this appointment from the board and look forward to start the implementation of the company’s new strategic framework”, says Mikael Strunge, new President and CEO of Acroud.

Biography of Mikael Strunge

Mikael Strunge is 44 years old and has worked within Acroud for over four years, most recently as COO of Acroud, being responsible for the day-to-day management and operational activities of Acroud. Before that, Mikael was the CEO of PMG before PMG was acquired by Acroud.

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ReferOn Launches Three Powerful New Features for Smarter Affiliate Management

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ReferOn Launches Three Powerful New Features for Smarter Affiliate Management

 

ReferOn, the next-gen affiliate management system, has introduced three major features aimed at making affiliate operations faster, smoother and more scalable than ever.

The latest updates, including Async task tracking, affiliate-controlled postbacks and bulk payment generation, reflect ReferOn’s ongoing commitment to removing friction and empowering users with practical and efficient tools.

  • Async Tasks: Say goodbye to frozen screens, slow loading and laggy sessions. The new system handles background-heavy processes such as bulk payments asynchronously (and with real-time tracking). This ensures smoother overall performance where users can monitor complex actions without overloading their session.
  • Affiliate-Controlled Postbacks: Affiliates can now manage their own postback setup directly in the platform (when enabled by their manager). No more tickets, long email threads or tedious back-and-forth communication. Campaigns go live faster and everyone moves more efficiently and with less delay.
  • Bulk Payment Generation: One of the more repetitive recurring workflows for users just became radically more efficient (and easy). Users can now generate payments for multiple partners in bulk with just a few clicks, freeing up time for higher-impact work.

Vladyslav Bondarenko, ReferOn’s Head of Product, commented on the new features, “At ReferOn, we design for scale, efficiency and performance. These new features are more than simple improvements, they represent the foundations of a more autonomous, convenient and resilient system. We’re about empowering both operators and affiliates, and we’ve done that by providing self-service and streamlined tools to keep control in their hands. The ReferOn team continues to deliver on our promise of user empowerment without complexity.”

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