Kick Introduces New Gambling Broadcast Rules. Audience Protection or Stake Business?

Changes to Kick’s gambling policy

Gambling streams are currently the third most popular content type on Kick, right after the ‘Just Chatting’ and ‘IRL’ categories. Streams featuring popular creators attract huge audiences, a significant proportion of which are younger viewers.

Until now, the lack of regulation has allowed the promotion of even those gambling platforms that have not adhered to basic user protection standards, such as age or identity verification.

This is set to change at the start of the new year, as under the updated regulations of streaming platform Kick, from 1 February 2025, gambling content will only be able to be streamed from gambling sites that use identity verification to confirm that users are over 18.

The new rules aim to limit the promotion of casinos operating outside the control of regulators and prevent young viewers from being exposed to illegal gambling.

Kick restricts gambling, but does it really?

Kick has been linked to gambling since its inception. The platform was founded by the co-founders of Stake.com, a cryptocurrency online casino. Thanks to its partnerships with popular streamers such as xQc and Adin Ross, it quickly gained popularity as an alternative to Twitch, which in recent years has severely restricted its ability to promote gambling.

At first glance, Kick’s new policy looks like a step towards responsible gaming, but its real aim may be to promote Stake.com – a casino linked to the platform’s founders – and eliminate competition at the same time.

Popular streamer Xposed suggests that the changes serve business interests more than actually protecting young viewers. In his view, the new rules are designed to target only this particular casino, marginalising other gambling companies.

“All this shows is CONTROL over their website entirely and to make everyone come back to Stake and promote only their product. On top of that, [for] any streamer that is streaming other gambling websites viewers are deflated and they are not allowed to be shown on the front page or on the recommended section of Kick, making them more difficult to be discovered, which hurts the streamers who aren’t streaming Stake, backing them into a corner”, he said on X, the former Twitter.

While curbing illegal content is an important step, the problem of young audiences’ access to gambling will still remain unresolved, and these changes may just be an excuse to promote the Stake brand.