Chance "Sodapoppin" Morris is one of Twitch's oldest and most popular streamers. Starting out on smaller live-streaming sites like Xfire, his channel quickly grew once it moved to the purple publishing platforming in 2012. There, he spent his time entertaining upward of 20,000 people by playing World of Warcraft and an assortment of variety games, and gambling online.
In the past, it was common to see streamers plugging gambling sites to their much younger demographic. Popular sites allowing players to win weapon skins in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive became extremely profitable and popular. YouTubers who created videos that showed them winning massive amounts of valuable skins went viral, including Trevor "TmarTn" Martin and Tom "ProSyndicate" Cassell. The pair owned the CSGOLotto website but never disclosed that information to viewers. Once this information reached the public, they were sued, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created new laws about online endorsements.
If a streamer, influencer or Instagram model is paid by a company to endorse a product, they must disclose that working relationship. In the summary or title of the post, you must include #ad or #sponsored to keep your viewer base informed. If you don't, the FTC can potentially charge you under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits deceptive advertising. Twitch has even added this rule to its terms of service, meaning those that don't oblige can be kicked off the platform.
Sodapoppin was never much for skins; he preferred to play blackjack. The dealer would deal cards to a real casino table, allowing Soda to share the thrill of gambling to his viewers through a couple of webcams. For the past half-decade, Soda has been playing on sites like BetOnline.ag, winning and losing thousands of dollars. Those sites sometimes sponsor him to advertise to a demographic the site might not have ever seen before.
This weekend, Sodapoppin partnered with BetOnline.ag for a normal gambling stream. For the first few hours of the stream, there was no #ad or #sponsored in the title, though it was added later. The video of the stream been purged from Sodapoppin's Twitch account, leaving the many clips cached by fans. On the YouTube video posted on Sodapoppin's YouTube channel of the stream, it includes #ad and says, "Sodapoppin is sponsored by Betonline."
BetOnline has had its fair share of scandals, ranging from a live streamer catching a dealer cheating to claims about bots. Though some gambling review sites give BetOnline.ag a clean bill of health, it's still a gambling site, and that shouldn't give it a pass.
A post on the livestreamfails subreddit about the partnership quickly gained traction, hitting over 9,000 upvotes. Fans are wondering why Soda didn't disclose his relationship or why he needed the sponsorship to begin with. "Streaming has for sure made Soda a wealthy man, is the money he received from this sketchy ass website really worth jeopardizing your community," wrote one user.
Newsweek has contacted BetOnline.ag and Sodapoppin for comment. We will update this story with their response.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Steven Asarch is a tech reporter for Newsweek currently based in New York City. In high school, he started stand-up ... Read more
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