Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel is stopping his Twitch gambling streams immediately. The star admitted the broadcasts were “trashy” and he is “absolutely done with them,” after revealing he was getting addicted to it.
xQc’s latest streaming endeavor may be coming to an abrupt end.
The French-Canadian posterboy of the platform took up gambling streams after his latest GTA RP ban at the end of May, and they took off.
His broadcast didn’t just top Twitch’s “Slots” gambling category, but was topping the platform’s overall charts with more than 130,000 viewers tuning in to see him put his money on the line in the casino betting games.
However, after a long line of criticism, Lengyel has had a change of heart. The streamer has vowed to stop gambling on Twitch immediately, putting an end to the “trashy” broadcasts.
“We’re not doing gambling. I’m done with it. I’m absolutely done with it,” he said.
“I get addicted to things very, very easily. I noticed that my brain is kind of going crazy so I have to stop [the gambling streams].”
It’s somewhat of a backflip on his previous statement just days before, where he brushed off criticism of his streams by saying he “doesn’t care”.
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Were xQc’s gambling streams even legal?
There were also questions surrounding whether xQc’s gambling streams were even legal.
Finance and esports writer Ollie Ring claimed Lengyel’s broadcasts “glamorized” gambling, and were “literally illegal” under Texas state law, where xQc currently lives.
Regardless of the legality, some streamers like Charlie ‘Cr1tiKaL’ White feared Lengyel’s impressionable young viewers could be sucked into following their favorite streamer’s gambling habits.
Others have called on Twitch to outright ban gambling.
https://twitter.com/olliering/status/1398284350597308425
xQc’s last Slots stream was on June 1, peaking at just under 110,000 viewers. Lengyel still has commands for gambling in his Twitch chat, but none of them stake real money; instead, they just use chat points to bet on the broadcast.