Twitch explicitly bans CSGO skin gambling sponsorships affecting countless streamers

Twitch, the Amazon-owned streaming platform, now explicitly prohibits sponsorship and promotion of CS:GO skin gambling sites – a rule that, if enforced thoroughly, will impact the sponsorships of countless CS:GO streamers.

CS:GO skin gambling is a lucrative business, and one that sponsors streamers and YouTubers with big-money deals, who then often use the gambling sites on stream and have affiliate codes and deals to share with viewers.

It is generally frowned upon but is the norm for even the biggest streamers and pro players – many active and former professional players promote skins gambling sites, and G2 Esports itself is sponsored by CS:GORoll, one of the most popular sites in the space.

Despite being in breach of Twitch terms of service previously, it has rarely if ever been enforced – although this may be about to change.

Twitch highlights CSGO skin gambling as prohibited

In Twitch’s community guidelines, under the section regarding prohibited gambling, an FAQ question reads:

Is sponsorship of skins gambling, such as for CSGO skins, allowed on Twitch?

No, promotion or sponsorship of skins gambling is prohibited under our policy.

In a statement to Dexerto, Twitch said: “There’s been renewed interest in CSGO gambling broadly, so we’ve added clarifying language to our FAQ to make clear that promotion/sponsorship is not allowed on our service.”

In a popular video published in July 2023, YouTuber HOUNGOUNGAGNE reported that an estimated 75% of the top 300 CS:GO streamers on Twitch have skin gambling sponsors.

The mention of CS:GO skins being prohibited was not featured in Twitch’s Community Guidelines as of the making of that YouTube video, so it appears it has been added since.

However, how strictly this rule is enforced remains to be seen. Even under the existing community guidelines, promotion of unregulated gambling sites, which many of these skin gambling sites are, was already prohibited.

Despite this, there have been no bans issued against streamers promoting these sites. At the time of writing, a number of streamers are currently promoting skins gambling live on their channels.

Valve, the publisher of CS:GO, has also been taking action against skin gambling, banning numerous traders deemed to be “suppliers” of items to the gambling sites.