The topic of streaming online casinos to an audience has definitely been a controversial one over the past few years, with many citing ethical issues with the practice.
Kevin Martin, a GGpoker Ambassador and well-known poker player, finally ended his Poker from Zero challenge today, after streaming for 500 hours, or just over 20 days.
The premise was simple; Kevin would start with $0 and would try to turn this into $5,000 through poker. In all fairness, it’s a very reasonable goal. According to poker databases, Kevin has finished live events with tens of thousands of dollars before, with total live earnings reaching half a million dollars.
Kevin is no stranger to poker.
But that’s a message that isn’t broadcast to young people all too often nowadays - you can have everything in your favour and still lose. Especially when it comes to casinos.
He started out by earning a couple hundred dollars at a local business, before spinning it up at the online poker tables. During this, the cameras would be rolling 24/7 until he either hit the $5,000 target, or until he hit 500 hours streamed.
“There were two ways for the game to end. One is we hit $5,000, we’re a champion, we win the simulation! And the other option is… the plug gets pulled at 500 hours.” - Kevin Martin
Despite all of the support from his fans, the different poker tables and his decades of experience, Kevin ultimately hit the 500-hour mark before he hit his goal. More importantly though, he wasn’t even close. At the 499th hour, Kevin was sat with $860, marking just over $500 in poker winnings.
“In terms of the poker, I have to be humble about it. We just take the L, man. We just take the L.” - Kevin Martin
This is unfortunately the reality of online gaming that many people don’t get to see. Quite frankly, not many people want to broadcast their losses. That’s the basics of social media - you only get to see the best of people.
This is only amplified when it comes to finances and wins. Most of the time, people are only exposed to people's casino or betting winnings, to the point where it becomes an echo chamber of disillusion.
Kevin Martin’s challenge is so much bigger than it seems on the surface. It was, of course, interesting to watch him play through so many poker games as a professional - but it was infinitely more important that he was open and transparent about not only how difficult the challenge was, and also about losing.
“That’s the message, man. Poker has been a beautiful, professional pursuit for me… Poker is very often this beautiful game of skill, but there are a lot of things that can go your way. Many good players have busted and I’d recommend playing the game on the side, passionately. Just always take care of your money.” - Kevin Martin
This is in complete contrast to other influencers in the online casino and betting industry, like one of the most infamous gaming streamers across any platform, xQc.
XQC, real name Félix Lengyel, first rose to fame through his professional Overwatch career. Despite making it onto the Dallas Fuel team, his time there was struck with controversy and suspensions. Eventually, after trying a few different teams, xQc would hang up his Overwatch jerseys and become a full-time Twitch streamer.
It’s rare to find someone who hasn’t heard of xQc in this day and age. After all, he was the most-watched streamer on Twitch for three consecutive years; 2020, 2021 and 2023. Even now, xQc boasts an impressive 12 million followers - Which is more than the population of Cuba, Sweden or Portugal.
“I started malding seeing people pick this and choose that, and you know what, at the end of the day, I was like, I love gambling, so I’m just going to gamble.” - xQc, Félix Lengyel
Well, in June 2023, xQc signed a $100 million contract with Kick to move over to the streaming platform. As the service is backed by Stake.com the founders, it was no surprise to see the majority of xQc’s content revolve around playing at the online casino.
In one of his most recent streams, xQc revealed that since 2021, he’s wagered $2,468,533,099.84 at Stake.com. Or, in other words, $2.5 billion.
“All I do is gamble; everywhere I go, I just gamble. It's all I do; I think it's fun. I'm addicted. I have one of the most addictive personalities.” - xQc, Félix Lengyel
While no fingers were ever pointed, it’s widely believed in the streaming communities that xQc was one of the reasons that Twitch restricted gambling on the platform as heavily as they did. Several high-profile streamers, such as Pokimane, also spoke out about how irresponsible it was to promote gambling to young and impressionable viewers.
However, xQc isn’t the only streamer who’s taken to streaming gambling - he just happens to be the biggest one. Hundreds of streamers have promoted gambling to their audience, from Adin Ross on Twitch to ProSyndicate with Counter-Strike skin gambling.
"You have no problem peddling gambling to children, that's a more soulless act than not smiling, wouldn't you agree?" - Ethan Klein
“It’s fun!” - Adin Ross
This is why the way Kevin Martin approached his ‘failed’ poker stream is so much more important than simply content. It can be difficult to translate a Responsible Gaming message effectively. Most people don’t want to be told that they’re making risky or poor decisions, especially if they’re having fun while doing it. This is why so many companies invest millions into the research and marketing of these messages, to try and make sure that they get through to the people who need them.
Rather than trying to sell the experience as something that’s enjoyable or worthwhile, Kevin stressed how difficult, draining and ultimately unsuccessful the Poker from Zero challenge was. In the end, he was entirely authentic to himself, the experience and the viewers.
