xQc wants to do what he wants to do
Félix “xQc” Lengyel, one of the most popular video game streamers in the world, has returned to doing sponsored online gambling streams after stopping them nearly a year ago. Best known for his Overwatch streams – he used to be a professional player in the Overwatch League – xQc ended his gambling streams in June 2021 after admitting he was “slightly, if not moderately” addicted.
On Monday, however, xQc was back streaming online slots. Many of his viewers scolded him for it, so he felt obligated to explain his decision. The controversial streamer essentially blamed viewers.
Everybody threw us all under the bus when the chips were down, and everybody turned on us.”
“Everybody threw us all under the bus when the chips were down, and everybody turned on us,” he said, probably referencing past criticisms he received for online gambling streams.
“Everyone was a bunch of bitches,” xQc added. “But when some other streamers [decided to resume sponsored gambling streams], everybody flipped and said, ‘Oh dude, if I had that much money, I would do it too! I respect this guy!’”
Gambling streaming is permitted on Twitch, though many consider it unethical, particularly because it can and does expose children to high stakes wagering. As of this writing on Tuesday afternoon ET, “slots” is among the top-12 most viewed Twitch categories.
Lost $2m in April
All this comes just two weeks after Lengyel said he lost nearly $2m gambling in April. In a joint stream/podcast with popular streamer Imane “Pokimane” Anys, xQc said: “Yeah, I’m addicted. I lost $2m…$1.85m this month,” at which Pokimane looked simply exasperated.
His revelation was in response to Pokimane asking him if he would enjoy gambling as much if he wasn’t streaming it. xQc answered in the affirmative. He added: “I have one of the biggest, most insanely addictive personalities you’ll ever find. I’m addicted to everything I do […] I still do it. Is that good? No, that’s terrible. That’s an illness. That’s ill. I’m ill. But you know what, I can afford to be ill. I’m lucky.”
xQc’s gambling attracted even more attention when his father got wind of it and called him when he was streaming, expressing his concern.
Gambling streaming has been in the news
Gambling streaming has made headlines several times over the last few months. In February, high stakes slots streamer Tyler “Trainwreck” Niknam called out fellow popular gambling streamer “Roshtein” for allegedly not being honest about his wins and losses. Trainwreck accused Roshtein of making it look like huge jackpot wins are the norm and that winning at gambling is easy.
Two months ago, Twitch streamer “Xposed” had a disturbing meltdown live on camera when a gambling session turned sour. He was “bonus chasing,” but not having much luck, so he took the $558,000 balance he had on the site on which he was playing from the slots to the blackjack tables. Xposed ran it up to about $850,000 before losing it all in about half an hour. He ranted and raved, accusing the site of being a scam, before finally throwing his chair at his computer, knocking out his stream.
A week later, Trainwreck hit a world record non-jackpot online slots win of $22.5m.
Finally, in April, one of Pokimane’s viewers said in the text chat during her stream that he was inspired to gamble big because of Trainwreck’s streams, after which he lost $60,000. Pokimane was shocked by this and urged him to get professional help.