Twitch could face legal action after Swedish streamers promote unlicensed casinos

Twitch could face legal action in Sweden after a private investigation discovered 8 out of 10 prominent Swedish streamers promoted unlicensed casinos to their viewers.

After being banned in Turkey earlier this year over gambling concerns, the popular live streaming platform is now facing scrutiny in Sweden due to the same reasons.

In April 2024, an investigation from Kulturnyheterna, an investigative branch of Swedish television network Sveriges Television AB, found that “eight out of ten Swedish influencers on Twitch had promoted unlicensed casinos to their audiences.”

The investigation, which took place over a period of six weeks, saw Kulturnyheterna review live streams from the country’s most prominent influencers.

According to their findings, these streamers were “seen making direct calls to gamble, playing along with their audience, and involving viewers in decisions on stakes, deepening the engagement in gambling activities.”

Unsplash: Caspar Camille Rubin

The investigation also found that 60% of these streamers used marketing tactics like putting links to the unlicensed casinos in their profiles and even “promoting bonus incentives” for their viewers.

Kulturnyheterna submitted their findings to Sweden’s gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, claiming that “Twitch has become the most common platform to promote unlicensed casinos.”

Although Spelinspektionen has not offered an official response to the investigation, they cautioned that it’s illegal to advertise unlicensed casinos under the Swedish Gambling Act, which could result in police intervention or even outright bans for offending businesses – meaning that Twitch could face a ban in Sweden if changes aren’t made.

As previously mentioned, this is far from the first time Twitch has faced scrutiny for allowing gambling content to be streamed on its platform. In 2022, a number of high-profile streamers spoke out against the practice after prominent broadcaster Sliker admitted to scamming his fans and fellow creators out of “thousands” to fuel his gambling addiction.

Although Twitch later made changes to its policy by banning gambling sites that aren’t licensed in the US or that fail to provide “sufficient consumer protection,” the site continues to face backlash and even bans in certain countries over allowing broadcasts.