Nickmercs will be doing gambling content going forward. The last year or so has seen the rise of a major new streaming platform, Kick. We have seen a lot of sites try to compete with the likes of YouTube and Twitch, but very few can actually do so as they’re trying to compete with two very massive companies that already have built in audiences. The likes of Mixer have died off very quickly, but Kick is different. It is offering creators a much less restrictive platform that allows them to make much more of the content they want, within reason. Now, this has led to some more controversial content and creators with divisive reputations getting more popular on the platform. However, it is what some people want.
Kick has also poached massive streamers like Nickmercs and xQc from platforms like Twitch with lucrative deals. Many have wondered how it is able to do so given it is so new. Part of it seems to stem from the fact that Kick has connections with Stake.com, a major gambling website. It’s hard to pin down concrete answers on these things, but Stake.com co-founders Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven are some of the most prominent figures at the company, though it’s often debated on what that role actually is. Nevertheless, Nickmercs has noted that he will be doing gambling content on Kick as part of his contract. It was later clarified by Andrew Santamaria, Kick’s head of partnering, that he has no gambling clause in his contract with Kick, suggesting that it would be a separate Stake.com contract. Nickmercs noted that they “got another place” outside of the United States to host the gambling, as Stake isn’t licensed to operate in the States.
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Many have been concerned with having streamers take on contracts to promote gambling. If a streamer has a ton of money, they can get pretty risky. Even worse, if they are directly partnered with a place that is hosting the gambling, the odds could be rigged in their favor, they may not lose as much, or they’d be incentivized to gamble no matter what the outcome is. A lot of these streamers also have younger, impressionable audiences, which causes further concern.
[H/T The Verge]
