Twitch streamer wins big on World Cup betting

Trainwreckstv, one of the highest-earning streamers on Twitch, has won millions betting on the World Cup after predicting four wins in a row

Popular Twitch streamer Trainwreckstv has won $2.3 million after making a series of bets on the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, correctly predicting four matches in a row while streaming on the game streaming platform.

As reported by Metro, Trainwreckstv had to correctly predict the outcomes of four matches in the World Cup in order to avoid losing about $35,000 in Bitcoin the streamer had gambled.

The first match had him predict that Saudi Arabia would beat Argentina with a final score of 2-1, while his next two bets had him predict draws in the match between Denmark and Tunisia, as well as between Mexico and Poland. His final prediction was that France would beat Australia, which also came true when the French team took home a 4-1 victory.

In September, Twitch announced a ban on streams with roulette, dice, or slots games as the platform is hit with concerns about getting users hooked on gambling. Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP

Gambling streams such as Trainwreckstv have come under increasing amounts of fire among Twitch’s creator communities, with many calling on Twitch and its parent company Amazon to ban all streams that feature it in the name of preventing harm. The website is visited by millions of viewers each day, and some streamers say that allowing the practice to continue on the platform amounts to promotion and could lead to gambling addictions.

Twitch banned some gambling in the wake of the streamer outrage in September of this year, but some say it didn’t go far enough. The company banned chance-based gambling, such as slots, some types of online poker, and roulette and dice games, but other forms of gambling such as betting have remained allowed.

At the time Trainwreckstv, who used to stream slots but now focuses primarily on sports betting, posted to Twitter that the blame should fall on streamers who “promote a false reality” rather than gambling itself. He said that streamers like himself shouldn’t suffer the consequences, because he shows his losses as well as his wins (thanks Metro).

xQc, one of Twitch’s biggest earners, says wagered over $1 billion on gambling before Twitch pulled the plug on games of chance. Photo: Twitch

Other streamers have come under fire recently too, after a top 10 Twitch streamer said he doesn’t pay moderators in his chat. Félix “xQc” Lengyel and Kai Cenat, both of whom are among the highest-earning streamers on the platform, both said they didn’t pay their chat moderators, with xQc saying he opted not to because he “didn’t want it to become weird”.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.