Streamers and influencers are becoming increasingly influential within the gambling industry, but do players trust them? We turned to the AskGamblers forum and discovered that viewers remain wary of both.
While players acknowledge that influencers can edit their content to only show the highlights of gambling, they’re also concerned that streamers use money from sponsored accounts. Rather than trusting casino or sportsbook recommendations from either, users tend to take their word with a 'huge grain of salt'.
Highlights From Our Findings
- Users are wary of both streamers and influencers.
- Some trust livestreams, but raise concerns that streamers can use sponsored or virtual balances.
- There's particular mistrust of YouTubers who can edit content, making wins look much more frequent than they actually are.
- Players trust the recommendations of fellow gamblers more.
Real Time Doesn’t Mean Real Money
The debate over whether influencers or streamers can be trusted more started with Player101 discussing how influencers can 'fake their videos and edit them', while streamers 'share everything in real time'. It’s the main point we found in our research, with some users saying that the real-time nature of livestreams means they’re usually more honest than influencer videos.
However, as Player101 notes, just because we follow streamers in real time doesn't mean everything we see is accurate. Many users talked about streamers using virtual or sponsored funds, instead of their own money, to gamble. Others discuss the possibility of content creators being paid to present a favourable image of a casino or betting provider.
Users find this kind of content untrustworthy as the uploader isn’t putting any of their money at stake, and with sponsored posts, there's no guarantee that a user would have the same experience as an influencer.
Spotting Red Flags
We also saw a few commenters highlighting one of their biggest red flags in streamers: a lack of reaction. Whether it's losing a sizable sum or winning a large amount, players agree that a streamer having very little reaction to a result is their biggest red flag.
It indicates to many that the results have either been fixed, the streamer isn't using their own money, or they're being paid for the post.
YouTubers the Least Trustworthy
We consistently saw members saying that YouTubers are the least trustworthy, with five users in the thread mentioning the threat their edited content poses. Influencers on YouTube are able to edit their play at a casino or bets made at a sportsbook, presenting a biased version of events. This can give viewers a skewed perception of the frequency or size of wins, as well as the likelihood of losses.
A number of posters criticised what they view as 'clickbaiting', a tactic used by influencers to get more engagement. In the gambling industry, this can be overhyping the frequency of wins or emphasising major wins, while ignoring costs and losses. Users also highlight that these videos are more popular, as 'people watch YouTube more often than streamers', making them more dangerous.
Players Trust Fellow Gamblers More
These concerns around the authenticity of content produced by streamers and influencers mean that gamblers are unlikely to trust their content. Instead, we noticed our members turn to each other to verify whether a streamer-recommended provider is worth using.
The post below is an example of this, with a player looking to hear from fellow gamblers about their experience at a casino, rather than purely trusting the word of a streamer.
Overall, our community doesn't fully trust either streamers or influencers. Live streams get some credit for showing wins and losses more accurately, but the more members looked behind the screen, the more concerns there were.
From sponsored balances to paid posts and edited wins, it’s clear gamblers don't fully trust content creators. What they do trust, though, is each other, with more players turning to our forums for recommendations than to YouTube videos.
