After Twitch streamer ‘Sliker’ came forward with his gambling addiction — and his hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt “scammed” from viewers — stars Ludwig Ahgren and Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel have promised to repay fans who lost money. The estimated debt total is around $300,000.
Sliker shocked the streaming community on September 18 when he came forward and admitted to “scamming” viewers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to facilitate his gambling addiction.
While the star claimed he “never intended in scamming anyone” and would eventually pay back his debts, it has started new discourse on gambling’s place in streaming.
Before all that though, some of the internet’s biggest stars want to make sure fans get their money back one way or another. That’s what caused Twitch’s biggest name in xQc to pair with YouTube star Ludwig Ahgren to try and repay the debts.
The French-Canadian Twitch star — who has gambled himself on stream multiple times, and was approached by Sliker to loan some money — called the situation “heartbreaking” and pledged to help repay the $300,000 lost alongside Ludwig.
“We are aware about this Sliker situation and the victis who were scammed out of their hard earned money,” xQc tweeted on September 18. “Me and Ludwig will be trying our best to get money back to those people. This is about the victims, only them.”
WE ARE AWARE ABOUT THIS @Sliker SITUTATION AND THE VICTIMS WHO WE’RE SCAMMED OUT OF THEIR HARD-EARNED MONEY. HEARTBREAKING. ME AND @LudwigAhgren WILL BE TRYING OUR BEST TO GET MONEY BACK TO THOSE PEOPLE. THIS IS ABOUT THE VICTIMS. ONLY THEM. THIS WILL TAKE TIME, ITS ~$300,000.🤝
— xQc (@xQc) September 18, 2022
Ludwig echoed xQc’s sentiment while also adding onto calls for the Amazon-owned platform to ban gambling streams on their platform: “It’s time Twitch does something.”
In the aftermath of Sliker coming forward about his gambling addiction, thousands have told their stories on social media. The hashtag #TwitchStopGambling has been trending as viewers recount the thousands of dollars they’ve lost after being influenced by the platform’s stars.
Other Twitch stars like Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys have also spoken out to try and force change.
xQc added while the majority of the community’s focus was on Sliker’s actions, there needs to be attention drawn to the “victims” of the incident.
“Stop making this about [Sliker]. Some of these people were wronged and need those funds to survive. We only have the victims in mind. Those people are part of our tight communities and we won’t fail them.
“Some of the stories are terrible. There’s no way we were going to sit there and watch.”
xQc and Ludwig estimate repaying all the debts will “take some time”, but the duo vow to make right by all. As for Sliker, he admits he will “get help” for his gambling addiction from here.