From flashy tournaments to big team sponsorships—it’s no secret that the gambling industry has been bankrolling the esports boom for a while now. But with YouTube’s latest content crackdown, this revenue stream is suddenly looking less stable.
Gambling money, the backbone of esports
While the esports scene has attracted serious money for years now, the overall investments it’s been enjoying have long been driven by the gambling industry—including everything from traditional bookies and online casinos to crypto betting sites.
Esports betting is currently estimated to be worth $2.8bn globally. With that kind of money on the line, it’s no surprise that gambling companies have become some of the biggest backers of teams, tournaments, and even entire leagues.
Many of today’s biggest names in esports are thus sponsored by gambling companies. Ukrainian Counter-Strike powerhouse NAVI has been backed by online casino GG.BET since 2017, whereas FaZe Clan is partnered with both DraftKings and crypto casino Rollbit.
Unibet, Betway, and the EEG are some other gambling groups that have been throwing big bucks at esports as of late. No matter where you look, this kind of sponsorship seems to be the bread and butter of many teams and competitions. These partnerships are fueled by companies making a lot of money from esports betting and other forms of gambling.
Why is YouTube so sensitive about gambling?
YouTube’s sensitivity to gambling possibly stems from the hard lessons learned during the 2017 “Adpocalypse” and its several follow-ups. Back then, advertisers fled the platform over concerns that their brands were appearing alongside controversial content.
Although gambling wasn’t really at the root of these issues, the end results were the same. Every Adpocalypse taught YouTube it’s better to be proactive about cracking down on questionable content than wait for advertisers to boycott it.
As it so happens, gambling is as high-risk as content gets, making it an easy target for YouTube’s cleanup efforts to present a more advertiser-friendly image. To that end, the company banned all gambling from appearing in masthead ads—its most valuable slot—in 2021.
YouTube’s 2025 gambling crackdown
This crackdown has now continued four years later, with YouTube further tightening its content policies in early 2025.
YouTubers can now only promote pre-approved gambling sites
As of March 19, creators are forbidden from redirecting users to gambling sites or apps not certified by either YouTube or its parent, Google.
The new policy doesn’t just target obvious promotions, such as links in video annotations or descriptions. Instead, YouTube is banning pretty much everything, including showing websites, apps, or logos of uncertified gambling companies. Even name-dropping a casino is no longer allowed.
Certification is country-specific and hinges on sites meeting their local legal requirements for running a gambling business. Google’s currently accepting certification applications from 51 countries.
Even mentions of approved gambling sites may restrict videos
While videos that promote certified gambling companies are within the new guidelines, they may still get age-restricted now, making them unviewable to signed-out or underage users.
In its original announcement of the new policy, YouTube described it as a “necessary step” to protect its younger viewers. While the company acknowledged some channels would be impacted, it insisted this will help it remain “a safe and responsible platform for everyone.”
Following these changes, even Balatro YouTube videos are now being age-restricted because of the game’s poker theme. This is all despite the fact that Balatro teaches poker gambling about as much as learning the difference between black and red teaches you how to play roulette.
How YouTube’s new gambling policy compares to its rivals
YouTube’s new gambling policy is notably more complex than that of its immediate rivals in the esports space.
For instance, Twitch banned slots, roulette, and dice games—including promotions of sites that offer them—in 2022. Other types of gambling (sports betting, fantasy sports, poker, etc.) are still allowed, as is advertising any platforms that include them.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Kick will promote gambling on their parent company Stake’s site, and will let you stream just about anything. With gambling being a core part of its identity, the only thing that’s outright forbidden by Kick’s Community Guidelines is gambling with viewers’ money.
What YouTube’s new gambling policy means for esports
YouTube’s new policy further limits how gambling companies can promote themselves on the platform. That’s a potentially big deal for esports, where such sponsors play an outsized role in funding teams and events.
Tighter rules about what can and cannot be shown on YouTube could potentially impact future sponsorship negotiations. Faced with a reduced outreach, gambling companies might start taking their marketing budgets elsewhere, impacting tournaments that rely on them for prize pools.
Content creators covering esports are also caught in the middle of this crackdown. Even just showing footage from a tournament where someone’s wearing a kit with a logo of an uncertified gambling company could be enough to get it removed under the new rules.
This whole situation looks like an even bigger potential headache when you consider that Google’s gambling certification status isn’t static. Esports coverage that didn’t break YouTube’s content policy yesterday could do so tomorrow, based on factors outside of the creators’ control. What would happen then is unclear.
Can esports survive without gambling sponsors?
Trying to get some industry commentary for this story has been a challenge. While there’s no shortage of esports teams and events with direct ties to gambling companies, no one who fits the bill seems eager to go on record—especially not for a touchy subject of this sort.
That said, not every esports scene is heavily reliant on gambling money. “I don’t actually see much sponsorship from crypto or gambling in StarCraft events, if any,” YouTuber FalconPaladin tells me over email.
The StarCraft scene is mostly backed by energy drink and gaming chair brands, he explains. Therefore, not every esports niche is likely to come under the same level of scrutiny from YouTube as a result of these changes.
As for the niches that do, they could still rely on these very same brands to fill the void. Companies like Red Bull, Monster, Secretlab, and DXRacer—all of which have a long history of sponsoring gaming and esports content.
This hypothetical sponsorship “void” mostly applies to esports content creators rather than teams. As of right now, there are still no firm indications that YouTube’s gambling crackdown will have an immediate impact on teams and tournaments.
Overall, even if the worst comes to pass and YouTube’s new content policy starts affecting the esports scene, that’s not to say the reduced revenue will put an end to it.
“I don’t see gambling advertising money as a required lifeline in esports, but it DOES make things a lot easier for many,” FalconPaladin says, adding that he’s also not against responsible gambling for adults.
While YouTube folds, Kick goes all-in
Streams Charts data shows that gambling still has a strong presence on Kick, where top creators in the Slots & Casino category rack up tens of thousands of viewing hours per day.
This type of content used to be even bigger on Twitch until it was banned in 2022. Kick—backed by co-founders of crypto casino Stake—has been trying to fill that void ever since. YouTube’s recent gambling crackdown could help boost Kick’s popularity, though it’s a bit early to tell to what extent.
Some content creators definitely see an emerging opportunity here. “I do see Kick benefiting from Twitch and YouTube cracking down on gambling,” FalconPaladin says. “The audience is there, and they will flow to where they can get what they want.”
Big esports teams and tournaments are fine—for now
For the time being, YouTube’s policy changes will primarily affect content creators covering esports rather than teams and tournaments. Mature esports scenes with diversified revenue streams, such as League of Legends, will naturally be more resistant to any negative effects of this move in the medium-to-long term.
But if the top of the esports food chain appears relatively untouched, the same can’t be said for smaller scenes. Events like local tournaments, semi-pro circuits, and niche competitive games that may have leaned more heavily on gambling sponsors simply because alternative funding was harder to find.
For these grassroots efforts, YouTube’s stricter policies could mean fewer uploads, reduced visibility, or lost sponsorships—consequences that sting far more when margins are already razor-thin.
Even so, a more restrictive stance on gambling sponsors is bad news for esports, indirectly if not immediately. At the end of the day, anything that limits the reach of one of the industry’s most deep-pocketed sponsors is a blow to the scene as a whole.
