Gambling on Twitch remains a controversial topic, despite fading out of the spotlight. Now, Tyler ‘Trainwrecks’ Niknam — one of the biggest Slots streamers on the platform — has shared concerns about his own gambling sponsorships.
While some broadcasters from the Slots category (created by Twitch to house controversial gambling content on their service) have since moved away from those streams, others have continued creating content based around online casinos, including Tyler ‘Trainwrecks’ Niknam.
Niknam has continually warned his community not to gamble themselves, as they don’t have access to the massive sponsorship deals that many Slots streamers have inked with online gambling platforms, and has even debated his own exit from the category before.
It now seems his participation in the gambling meta could be coming to a close, as the streamer voiced concerns over the details surrounding his own gambling sponsors, and shared that he no longer feels comfortable with the arrangements currently in place.
On September 3, Trainwrecks opened up to fans about his concerns. “I’ve always been on the crossroads of this gambling stuff,” he began, “but now, I’m at a point where it’s no longer at a crossroads. I’m worried.”
“I’m worried . . . is there weird s**t going on?” Niknam questioned. “I’m trying to keep it as clean as possible, and take just as much risk as the regular user would, but I’m worried [about] attaching my name to anything,” he admitted.
The streamer continued: “It’s super weird. Some of these things that I’m witnessing . . .” Niknam then trailed off into a brief silence before picking back up: “Some of these statistics are near-impossible, do you understand? It’s near-impossible.”
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“I’m actually beginning to feel uncomfortable gambling,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable anymore because it doesn’t make sense. It is not possible,” he went on before going silent yet again.
“I sent [my sponsor] a message today,” he confirmed after the brief silence, “Like ‘Listen, I need to know what’s good. Are we just dealing with extreme luck? I need to know what’s happening.'”
“I’ve put my name behind this s**t, my brand on this s**t,” he exclaimed, then went on “I wanna gamble, I wanna be clean. [But] this is some sh**t where, it’s getting to that point where I don’t know if I feel comfortable anymore.”
It’s unclear if Niknam does intend to fully drop the gambling content from his channel, or if he will continue to stream in the Slots category. Regardless, he once again asked fans not to gamble as the discussion over the hotly debated topic came to a close.
“Please, I beg you, do not gamble,” he implored. “I cannot press this enough. You cannot gamble. You will lose, do you understand? I cannot stress it enough.”