Subscriptions, or “subs,” are the primary means of revenue for Twitch streamers. Twitch charges a fee for subscribing to a streamer, starting at USD$4.99 as of this writing, and both agree to an even split in revenue. Streamers with a sizeable following enjoy more favourable terms, receiving up to 70% of revenue from subs.
But even with such arrangements, Twitch’s revenue split remains a point of contention among its streamer base. The debate has only grown more heated with the company’s proposed update that will do away with the 70-30 split entirely. As a result, some streamers have looked to other ways of generating revenue, such as sponsorships.
Among the sponsorship deals offered to Twitch streamers, one stands out: Tyler “Trainwrecks” Niknam’s USD$360 million deal with a well-known online gambling platform. Here’s a close look into how one of Twitch’s famous made such a huge sum.
A bombshell dropped
Trainwrecks disclosed this massive amount during an Overwatch 2 stream with several of his fellow streamers last October. He was rather irked when he did this, but for an understandable reason—it happened after Twitch’s controversial ban on most gambling streams took effect.
Trainwrecks played slot games on Twitch for hours on end, becoming one of the platform’s leading streamers for gambling. Following the ban of slot games on Twitch, the stream revealed that during his sponsorship with the online casino Stake.com he was paid USD$360 million over 16 months to gamble on stream.
Also, in that stream, he said he could buy three of his fellow and equally-popular streamers, sell them, and buy them again with that amount. He further explained that up to USD$75 million or 20% of the sponsorship money was spent on giveaways on and off-stream.
Some people were quick to show disbelief at the USD$360 million figure. It’s at par with the net worth of Rolling Stones’ lead vocalist, Sir Mick Jagger, and more than the net worth of all but 12 of the top 100 richest musicians in the world (based on the list from TheRichest.com). A Reddit comment reportedly pointed out that Trainwrecks made more money than Justin Bieber.
Others wondered if the amount included the money bet and lost throughout his countless rounds of slots, which may be the more sensible explanation. One study of player data showed that 65% of players who thought they won in gambling actually resulted in a loss. In other words, losses outweigh winnings most of the time.
One notable example involves Felix “xQc” Lengyel, who admitted in a stream last August to spending close to USD$700 million in gambling. At the time of the stream, his win-loss rate stood around 11%—a win for every nine losses. Relative to the total amount wagered, xQc had lost over USD$600 million to online gambling over his lifetime.
Since dropping that bombshell, Trainwrecks has yet to provide a breakdown of the USD$360 million figure. The next news to come out of him was his plan to create a streaming platform rivalling Twitch, later known as Kick.com. The service is still in Beta as of this publication, but Trainwrecks urged people to give it a year to iron out the kinks.
Centred on gambling
Although he began streaming gambling fairly recently, Trainwrecks told the Washington Post that he had been into gambling as early as 18. His purview of gambling also extends to video games that offer loot boxes and microtransactions, essentially anything that gives him the thrill of obtaining the unobtainable.
Search for any top ten list of Twitch gambling streamers, and you’ll see that Trainwrecks is on almost all of them. At xQc’s advice, he moved to Canada from his Scottsdale, Arizona home in June 2021, where cryptocurrency laws were less stringent than those in the U.S. It was another bombshell, though xQc dropped it by accident.
Neither Trainwrecks nor xQc responded to this revelation, but the Washington Post reported that Trainwrecks claimed to have done so to be closer to his Canadian girlfriend. Regardless, he has been able to stream his gambling freely since the move.
Below are some of Niknam’s biggest winnings throughout his gambling career on Twitch.
- USD$22.5 million in the Might of Ra slots
- USD$14 million on Wanted Dead Or A Wild slots
- USD$15 million on Dork Unit slots
- USD$8.7 million on Starz Megaways slots
- USD$3.75 million after two lucky landings on roulette
Beyond streaming, Niknam also shares big sports bets with his social media following. During the World Cup, the streamer won an eye-popping USD$1.5 million betting on soccer with an incredible 4-match multibet that included the shocking first-round Saudi Arabia-Argentina upset.
Some of Trainwrecks’ winnings also reported millions more in losses, an important asterisk for anyone considering following in his footsteps. As such, his gambling streams would often have warnings about the risks involved. But even he received criticism on this front for a warning label that’s disproportionately small for a screen dominated by his gambling stream.
The incessant gambling amid the huge losses he’s incurred over the months has led some people to believe that he’s making at least USD$1 million a month from streaming. He refuted this in a stream last February, citing that he makes “much more,” allowing him to wager colossal sums, often USD$1,000 per round in slots.
At the time, he refused to disclose the exact figure, saying that Stake would “get upset at him.” However, he said the agreement with Stake required him to gamble for at least four hours per session to receive his cut.
The ban that divided a community
Last September, Twitch released a statement on Twitter stating its decision to prohibit casino games that are unlicensed in the U.S. or other localities that provide enough protection for consumers. This rule change kicked in on October 18.
The decision came amid a major controversy surrounding Abraham “ItsSliker” Mohammed, a Twitch streamer. Days before the decision, he confessed in a now-deleted stream that he tricked his followers and fellow streamers into funding his gambling addiction under the pretense of a locked bank account.
Reports vary on how much Sliker managed to con out of his followers and fellow streamers, but it’s estimated to be between USD$200,000 and USD$300,000. Following the incident, Twitch stripped Sliker of his partnership status, depriving his 426,000-sub channel of its verified status and, more importantly, its subscriber button.
This isn’t the first time the platform dealt with gambling elements in streaming content. Several years ago, it cracked down on CS:GO skin gambling, resulting in legal battles with the streamers it banned. It’s also worth noting that skin gambling was what Sliker got into general gambling.
While the victims eventually got their money back, the incident stirred up Twitch’s streaming community, dividing them into two camps. On one side, streamers such as Imane “Pokimane” Anys and Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo called for the platform to take a stronger stance against gambling content on streams.
At one point, the anti-gambling camp threatened to strike during the holidays if Twitch didn’t take action. While the pressure somehow worked, it wasn’t spared from criticism from some streamers for not being vocal on more important matters like online bullying or hate speech.
On the other side, streamers like Trainwrecks have lashed out at the platform for its decision. His choice of words was nothing short of harsh, calling the platform a slew of words from “corrupt” to “hypocrites.” Others like Hasan “HasanAbi’ Piker believe it wasn’t ready to enact an outright ban, given the revenue its gambling categories have generated for the platform.
Either way, the ban received flak from both camps for not being concrete enough. It still allowed streaming of poker, sports betting, and fantasy sports—games that Trainwrecks asserted were the more prevalent forms of gambling.
Twitch hasn’t taken action against these forms of gambling since the ban took effect. The Poker category is still active and has 2.4 million followers. Meanwhile, on the sports betting front, xQc tweeted his USD$500,000 loss after France lost during the World Cup finals.
Gacha games, loot boxes next?
The gambling stream debacle has also placed the fate of streams of video games with gambling elements into question. A study in 2019 found that such games comprised roughly 60% of the top 100 games on Android and Apple mobile devices and 36% of the top 50 PC games. Banning their streams would be opening a new can of worms.
Among the most vocal voices against such games is Asmongold (real first name Zack, last name unknown). Throughout his time on Twitch, he has criticized games like the FIFA franchise for their loot box-driven Ultimate Team mode and even tried reaching out to Senator Ted Cruz in hopes of getting the federal government more involved.
Twitch has yet to show any signs of moving against such games, although some countries have. In the Netherlands, the majority of its representatives and senators have recently called for an outright ban, convinced that they’re a form of gambling.
Play responsibly
Online gambling enjoyed an unprecedented rise in recent years, especially during the first years of the COVID pandemic. In the U.K., a study by the University of Bristol discovered that online gambling usage had increased sixfold last year compared to before the pandemic.
The reasons were clear as day to the researchers. Quarantine measures meant regular gamblers couldn’t go to brick-and-mortar casinos to play, prompting them to go to online casinos instead. They could play without the risk of getting the disease.
Twitch gambling streams were a major contributor to the rise, given that total viewership spiked in the second quarter of 2020 and continued rising well into 2021. Without access to brick-and-mortar entertainment, people looked to streams and online videos. It’s easy to get infatuated by such games when only looking at the player’s winnings and not the bigger picture.
The casino industry has reiterated the importance of self-discipline while gambling. Even if some games like poker require skill to some degree, gambling generally comes down to luck, a factor that neither the player nor the house can control. Numbers stating a player’s odds state their odds of winning, but they don’t always guarantee a win.
The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), an Ontario-based nonprofit known for its advocacy of safe gambling, recommends taking a six-step test before gambling. If you answer “no” to any of the following questions, getting into gambling might be too risky:
- Do you consider gambling just one of many recreational activities you pursue?
- Do your bets stay within reasonable and calculated limits?
- Do you find it easy to stop gambling?
- Do you realize that winning can be fun but isn’t everything?
- Do you recognize that losing can be disappointing but isn’t everything?
- Do you understand that your chances of winning are often very small?
The RGC also published guidelines to lower a player’s risk of gambling addiction. Note that the bar set by these guidelines is much lower for players suffering from problems involving alcohol, anxiety, depression, or personal or family issues. Better yet, the RGC recommends not gambling at all if suffering from said problems.
- Set the gambling budget to no more than 1% of your monthly income.
- Gamble no more often than four times a month or once a week.
- If a regular gambler, avoid playing more than two kinds of games.
Some gambling sites have links to professional intervention services should the player require them, though they’re usually hidden in the website footer.
Conclusion
Regardless of how much of Trainwrecks’ USD$360 million sponsorship is believable to you, the fact that gambling streams make big bucks remains. Streamers are responsible enough to show or point out their losses behind every big win, but more must be done to protect the viewing public. They’re unlikely to come to an agreement anytime soon.
But if there’s one key takeaway from all this, it’s that gambling is by no means a stable source of income. Its games mostly pivot around luck, one thing no professional gambler or strategy guide can account for. If you watch someone play slots online and they tell you not to gamble, they most likely mean it.
