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During a recent live stream, Imane “Pokimane” Anys responded to the overall “gambling streams” controversy that streamers including Felix “xQc” Lengyel and Tyler “TrainwrecksTV” have gotten into in recent weeks.
Twitch gambling streams, generally hosted under the “Slots” category have achieved quite a bit of popularity in recent weeks. Currently, the category is ranked 13th on the platform and has an average viewership of almost 37k with more than 226k at its peak.
However, Streamers such as Pokimane, Zack “Asmongold” and Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White Jr have criticized gambling streams.
Pokimane, in particular, did not initially comment on the gambling aspect, but rather expressed that Twitch streamers promoting gambling sites do not “need the money.”
Pokimane argued that the sketchy gambling sponsors generally offer deals to only the top Twitch streamers who are already “multi-millionaires” and do not need to promote platforms that are unethical or immoral.
xQc was obviously displeased with her comments, and opined there is nothing wrong with a rich person “going for more money.” Pokimane has since responded to xQc’s response, and also had some advice for TrainwrecksTV.
Pokimane responds to xQc and Trainwrecks over the Twitch “gambling” controversy
Pokimane initially spoke about the range of options available to top “multi-millionaire” Twitch streamers of today. She suggested the streamers in question could afford to choose what to promote:
“If you are getting these (gambling sponsors), you are already a multi-millionaire. You need to be a multi-multi millionare? It would be a good idea for people to sit down at that point and [ask themselves] what is ethically or maybe morally just not worth it.”
When xQc heard Pokimane’s take on the matter, he responded by claiming that the same argument can be made about all kinds of sponsors.
As can be seen in the video below, xQc argued there is nothing wrong with rich people going for more money, and accused Pokimane of choosing the wrong reasons to support her argument.
In a subsequent live stream, Pokimane spoke about both xQc and Trainwrecks’ takes on the matter. She explained her stance and suggested that she is not against other streamers making more money:
“My point was that once you’re a multi-millionaire streamer, you have so many potential sources of income that you can opt to choose the ones that are less ethically ambiguous than promoting gambling sites. For example, they could promote a game and make decent money without hurting anybody as opposed to gambling streams which are sketchier and more negatively impactful.”
Pokimane simply meant that top Twitch streamers such as xQc and TrainwrecksTV can easily make the same kind of money via other, “less sketchy” methods. Regardless, Pokimane also spoke about TrainwrecksTV, who has been criticized for his rigid take on gambling.
Trainwrecks had claimed his ways as the most “authentic and transparent thing” that people can see, and also stated that he loves gambling. However, Pokimane simply pointed out that Tranwrecks is being criticized for not acknowledging the other, darker side of gambling:
“Obviously, the comments are all assuming the absolute worst, creating the worst narrative. I don’t even think people want to hate on him. I just think they want to hear him acknowledge the other side of the take. For example, if he just said, ‘I understand all the negatives of gambling, but I just decide that it’s worthwhile for me,’ I think people would respect that a lot more.”
Regardless, it must be noted that earlier in May, Trainwrecks had warned his fans about gambling and asked them to avoid it. He had commented that gambling “is very bad” and people should watch him indulge in it instead of gambling themselves.
