Twitch banned in Slovakia because one streamer played poker

Twitch is set to be blocked by internet service providers in the entire country of Slovakia, reportedly because one single Slovakian streamer broke gambling laws by playing poker.

Users in Slovakia attempting to access the Twitch website are now instead greeted by a warning stating that “this site is blocked because it is on the list of prohibited sites of the Office for the Regulation of Gambling.”

According to Slovakian website Zive, a court was “issued an order to block the profile of the Slovak streamer with the nickname dDandis” because he is said to have broken laws around the operation of promotion of gambling by playing internet poker.

The Slovakian Regulatory office for Gambling lists DDandis’ Twitch channel as a banned website, alongside many other gambling sites.

Currently, O2 is the only ISP in Slovakia to have blocked Twitch entirely, with Slovakian reports stating that O2 “is blocking the entire platform due to the mentioned streamer.”

Twitch is still accessible through other ISPs in Slovakia, but this is expected to change, as it’s said that “not all operators have to execute a court decision at once or immediately. They still have a few days to apply it in practice.”

Although blocking gambling sites is very common in Slovakia, this is believed to be the first time that a streamer and their associated platform has been blocked.

dDandis is a partnered streamer on Twitch, with just over 35,000 followers. He has various clips on his channel from the past week showing him playing online poker, in Twitch’s dedicated “poker” section.

We will keep this story updated.