Jason Cook

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@TeamYouTube It looks like "imKay" (the motorcycle vlogger) has been hacked - the channel has been rebranded with some crypto scam, and somewhat concerning the channel is still marked as verified even though the new (fake) content has nothing to do with the original author!

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@KevinGerhart @WSOP @padspoker I expect this is further exaggerated with the min-cash being 2x/15% and extremely flat after (iirc, you need another two-thirds of ITM to be eliminated to get to 2.5x).

I can understand they want to keep late reg open as long as they can, but that is getting a little silly.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@Kevmath Curious having 2x min-cash with 15% payouts - going to make the bottom end as flat as a pancake.

Sure enough - the table suggests you need to knock out two thirds of ITM to win a further 0.5x... so heavy bubble stalling, then fireworks immediately after.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@CaanBerryTrader One of the key traps I see is that they will "allow" you to continue depositing and playing, but this can be a freeroll against you. AML guidance (https://t.co/BRJmPBhrUS) states that winnings generated after the trigger are only released if you pass CDD, and who decides that...

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@CaanBerryTrader That's something - it's a pity they didn't clarify in the actual report though (the January 2023 "summary" is unchanged, and still quotes the OHID 117-496 / £241-961m without further context). So people will continue to cite or miscite those statistics.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@BothersBar @Simonique If only @Simonique had started with a Toad Song, you'd have clocked it in seconds... 🤣

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@wayneblodwell @KevinRobMartin Everyone talking about Kick are missing two things: the backers are among the prime suspects for both YouTube and Twitch's clampdown in the past two years, making things worse for everyone; a regulated gambling site working with an unregulated Curacao one is bad optics. 2/2

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@wayneblodwell @KevinRobMartin The biggest issue would be infrastructure cost - particularly bandwidth. A ballpark figure for 720p30 is 1.2GB an hour, at AWS base retail rates that is 10-11 cents per viewer-hour, so for a single stream you could be talking $1000 plus. Needs economy of scale... 1/2

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@KevinRobMartin I know Twitch claimed a "mistake", but it feels like testing the waters and this will come back in some form. YouTube has a love-hate relationship with gambling streams and Kick is part of the problem not solution (bankrolled by the fake money streamers). Tricky times ahead!

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@haotian28460674 @BROBIRDcn @GreyZhang77 Exactly - and "early enough" could have been as recently as 2-3 weeks ago - where all teams could still benefit or suffer from the error, and thus are more willing to compromise.

Once the knockout phase bracket is set, and that seeding rule is cast in stone - it's too late...

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@BothersBar Been some bizarre decisions of late - downscaling basic customers to 480p was another one (reverted last month I believe) - £7/mth to party like it's 2007... perhaps fine for mobile users, but a real turn-off for anyone else!

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

Good luck to everyone playing the @PeppermillPoker Palooza Main Event this weekend!

It may not be RIU Reno anymore, but Mike and the @RenoPeppermill team have done an amazing job once again - been enjoying the @PokerLiveUpdate updates from here in the UK.

Great memories!

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

This is great news!

The easy path was to ban all gambling / all unregulated - but would have resulted in a lot of collateral damage to poker and other streams.

As a first step this cuts out most of the toxicity in one swoop - only complaint is we needed it 18 months ago!

[Twitch @Twitch]

An update on gambling on Twitch.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@Relics_Slays @XtV93 @KevinRobMartin @Twitch they're not banning slots and table games entirely - only those that don't offer "sufficient consumer protection" (e.g. unregulated markets like Curacao) - it's targeted at the proliferation of streamers playing at questionable crypto sites with pretend money...

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@KevinRobMartin Pretty much the best outcome! They could have thrown out all gambling, all unregulated gambling (incl. crypto poker), or continued to ignore and let it fester for another year.

I imagine they will need to keep an eye on what happens next, but it's a significant step forward.

[Twitch @Twitch]

An update on gambling on Twitch.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@PokerBrahs @KevinRobMartin They're targeting the whole segment - every time something erupts their stance is to ban it all.

The affiliate links ban (Aug 2021) did little - the worst offenders quickly pivoted those updates to their discord and carried on as normal.

[Jason Cook @jasoncookuk]

@KevinRobMartin Agreed, although slots is a wild west compared to poker - it's increasingly difficult to justify when the majority is "fake" and aggressively manipulative.

YT has age-gating, but streamers disable it. Jurisdiction rules may help, but would impact crypto poker players similarly.