Image: xQc on Twitch
Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel has all but confirmed that Kick pays its high-profile streamers to promote gambling on Stake.
Following Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel’s non-exclusive $100 million deal to stream on Kick, the streamer now admits that he gets paid to gamble live on the platform. Kick is an up-and-coming streaming rival to Twitch with ties to the gambling platform Stake, which is a site xQc claims to have wagered $1.5 billion on as of September this year.
Does Kick pay streamers to promote gambling?
During a stream this week spotted by PCGamer, a viewer asked xQc why he doesn’t admit to being paid for his gambling streams. In reply, the streamer admitted, “Bro, I’ve never lied once about it before, what is up with this guy: everyone knows I am." This was prompted by xQc discussing FaZe Clan co-owner Nickmercs, who recently admitted that his Kick contract includes gambling. During the Call of Duty streamer’s first stream on Kick, he said, “The first question I've been seeing is like, 'Nick, are you gonna do gambling streams?' We’re gonna do some gambling for sure. It’s part of the contract, y'know."
A representative from Kick denied that Nickmercs had gambling written into his contract before esports reporter Jake Lucky specified that the streamer had gambling written into his Stake contract, not his Kick contract - which means that he signed two contracts for his streaming deal with Kick. It’s unclear what the Stake contract requires from streamers besides gambling on the platform itself.
This little contract addendum makes streamers bring active viewership to Kick and new users to Stake, which works as a double-whammy in both companies’ favour. In response to criticism over his gambling streams, xQc told viewers:
Making fun of me being addicted like it's a joke. Memes flying around, public opinion clowning me for it. The minute it reflects back on them, now it's time to find victims and cry wolf. Backwards-ass people thinking that an idiot aiming to entertain (me) rips away all free will from vulnerable individuals. Get a grip of your own life before fixing mine. I apologised because people led me to believe there was a problem. I was wrong, there isn't any problem. Sorry for apologising.
The ‘Slots & Casino’ category is the second-most popular category on Kick as of the time of writing, though it likely gets bumped up whenever popular streamers like xQc decide to throw a few million at Stake.