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Jul 14, 2021

Twitch Streamers Rake in Millions With a Shady Crypto Gambling Boom

Online gambling is regulated by a combination of federal and state laws in the US. Gambling websites need a license to operate in individual states—it doesn’t matter whether they’re operating with hard USD or digital currency. Many crypto casinos, like Stake and Duelbits, are based offshore in countries like Curaçao, and do not have those licenses. Yet they are easy to access from the US through a VPN. (More reputable online gambling sites ask users for more data points to confirm their location.) “While these sites block the US, they do not prevent access from people within the US,” says Jeff Ifrah, an attorney who specializes in online gambling law. Ifrah says he recently has been fielding lots of questions from US-based Twitch streamers and their representatives. While legal experts say it can be tough to prosecute these websites, their US-based promoters may be open to scrutiny.