Ukraine’s gambling regulator PlayCity is expanding its remit to work with Kick in order to kick back on the widespread growth of illegal gambling advertising.
The regulator has added the company to their list of social media platforms that it works with on this, which includes TikTok, Meta, YouTube, Google, Twitch and Viber.
It said that it has already blocked two channels on the site that were advertising illegal gambling – something which has become fairly commonplace, particularly on Kick.
A change of direction for Kick?
Kick’s platform is operated by Kick Streaming Pty Ltd, which is backed by Easygo Entertainment Pty Ltd – the same group behind gambling company Stake.
Stake itself has been the subject of much scrutiny in regards to illegal advertising.
Just last week, UK-licensed, London-listed gambling conglomerate Entain cited the operator as one of three sites which are particularly active in advertising illegally.
Moreover, Entain accused the company’s social media partners of promoting ways to circumvent its lack of a licence.
UK influencer The United Strand was seen wearing clothes with the Stake logo embroidered on them during a popular watchalong of West Ham United vs Manchester United back in February, while hosting the live stream on Kick.
Kick was also identified as “a central hub of the illegal gambling influencer ecosystem, hosting a dedicated gambling category with minimal age verification and acting as a launchpad for content redistributed across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and using referral codes, affiliate links and gamified incentives in their content”.
High profile figures in the so called ‘manosphere’ have been known to be particularly prevalent on its site, so observers would be forgiven for thinking that this commitment alongside PlayCity represents somewhat of a shift in direction.
PlayCity’s week of elimination
Ukraine’s regulator has reported that it has already begun extraditing illegal gambling advertising from social media platforms to some tune.
Over the last week, PlayCity has already banned:
- 20 TikTok accounts with a combined following of over 473,000
- 11 Instagram accounts with a combined following of over 314,000
- Four Twitch channels with a combined following of over 107,000
- Two Kick channels with a combined following of over 1,200
It has said it is now reporting directly to Kick to give information on illegal practices in order to restrict access to pages, channels or materials with illegal gambling advertising.
PlayCity has now restricted access to 785 social media accounts promoting gambling illegally since it began to tackle this, handing out fines of “almost ₴5.2m” (£80,000) to perpetrators.
It is the latest in a series of regulators and licensed operators to call out the exponential growth of the black market, and particularly its marketing practices, in recent times, as jurisdictions across the globe look to curb its expansion.
Working with Kick – a social media platform which has previously been relatively lax on allowing for illegal gambling advertising on its site – may represent a key step in eradicating the promotion of unlicensed operators.