In the wake of a gambling scandal that has rockedTwitch, a team of content creators led by Ludwig, xQc, and more paid back the scamming victims of aTwitchstreamer. This act comes after the alleged streamer’s own admission of scamming viewers and fellow content creators out of cash.The good news follows after a rough patch of news on Twitch in general, particularly in the wake of TwitchCon. Between the recent doubling-down on the 50/50 revenue split, anda streamer breaking her backat a foam pit run by Lenovo and Intel Gaming on the convention floor, the Amazon-owned streaming service has been embroiled in tumultuous times of late.RELATED:Twitch Streamer xQc Says He Knew Gambling Streams Were ‘Wrong’Amid the storm of Twitch’s issues, Ludwig and his team paid back close to $250,000 to 72 victims, with individual amounts not disclosed. On Twitter, Ludwig publicly thanked xQc for his generosity and financial contributions, Wojito, the product manager for OTK, for verifying the identities of each victim, and Slime, Ludwig’s co-host at “The Yard” podcast, for ensuring the payments were facilitated properly.
As for the scamming streamer,Sliker recently admitted to his actions. He stated that he scammed his viewers, and other streamers, out of some money to feed his gambling addiction, even asking Ludwig and xQc for money to help pay his debts. However, Sliker’s Twitch account remains active, despite the loss of his partnership status as a consequence of his actions. Ludwig further called upon Twitch to ban Sliker for his conduct and put an end to the scheme.
This news comes aftera recent crackdown on gambling on Twitch, which in turn was in response to this particular scandal. The ban covers unregulated gambling sites, but still allows sports gambling and poker, at least in states and countries where such activities are legal and regulated. The crackdown came after reports and public pressure were focused on unregulated gambling, and the ban itself was mostly praised on social media.
However, Twitch itself remains mired in controversy. One of the remaining, outstanding grievances concerns domestic violence,with calls for Mizkif to be bannedfollowing allegations of him leading a cover-up of CrazySlick’s alleged sexual assault of Adrianah Lee. Suffice it to say, controversy and Twitch of late go hand-in-hand. Between this, and a growing number of Twitch streamers leaving for other platforms such as YouTube, only time will tell how Amazon or Twitch will weather the storm.
