Kick has added a new option that allows users to choose whether they want to view gambling content. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
The Kick streaming platform gave all users the option to choose whether they would prefer to view gambling streams while checking out the site’s various channels.
Co-founder Ed Craven announced Friday that as part of a series of updates to the site, Kik was removing “unnecessary exposure” to gambling content. He also said that users would have the ability to “switch” gambling streams (and hot tubs) and thus remove them from the recommended feed and search results.
Craven followed up on the tweet early Monday morning and confirmed the changes had been implemented.
Gambling streams have been a divisive topic over the past year or so. Twitch, the leading streaming platform, banned unregulated gambling streams last year, providing an incentive for some streamers to abandon the platform.
Kick has deeper roots in the world of gambling — its founders helped create Stake, an online crypto-based gambling platform, and were responsible for having celebrities like Trainwreck and xQc move to the new platform.
Kick also embodied the ambition to become more relevant than Twitch, whether or not streamers feature gambling content. They offer a 95/5 earnings split for paid subscribers, while Twitch is 50/50 and YouTube is 70/30. They also pay broadcast creators hourly salaries, though the exact payment depends on various parameters such as number of viewers, broadcast hours, and CPM.
