Casino Streaming
Casino streaming is not something to have been innovated recently, but it certainly got most of its viewers and streamers only recently. Sit tight and, by the end of reading this article, you’ll know how to stream casino, where to stream casino, who are the most popular casino streamers, what the requirements are, and how to make money streaming casino. Sounds easy enough!
Live Streaming History
When it comes to broadcasting live video online, Mark Cuban is the king of it as he started the industry in 1995 with the infamous broadcast(dot)com, which redirects all visitors to Yahoo. That’s because Yahoo bought Mark’s company in 1999 for $5.7 million!
There had been multiple live streaming websites before 2007 when JustinTV appeared. What was new back in the day is that it allowed individuals to record themselves and broadcast it to anyone who visited the channel in real time. In no time, people started recording both themselves and their screens using special software, such as OBS. The brand changed its name to TwitchTV in 2011 and has been named that way ever since.
Even though casino games were not that popular at first, professional poker players started coming to the platform, bringing thousands of viewers to their streams. As a result, poker was and still is the most popular casino game with well over 800.000 followers, but casino games are getting noticeable attention lately as well. The majority of streamers are playing slot machines, but they take pride in playing baccarat, roulette and blackjack as well.
The CasinoTwitcher channel is held responsible for the rapid growth in popularity of casino streaming on Twitch as he was one of the first people to do it. CasinoTwitcher is not streaming anymore though, but he is attributed to have sparked hundreds of new channels to appear, with more coming and trying to get to the top of the list constantly.
Should I Watch Casino Streamers?
If you’re a fan of slot machines and other casino games, there are several different reasons why you should watch them:
- You get to see high-rollers in action, playing for large amounts of cash with big bets
- One of the best reasons to watch is to learn, you get to watch professionals talk about strategies and bet sizings as well as playing hundreds of different machines they have vast experience from playing
- A chance to live chat with your favourite streamers and the rest of the audience, ask questions about how to get into streaming or get info about certain games or strategies mentioned, streamers are normally very friendly and helpful!
Having an option to not only watch but also interact with your favourite casino streamers is the number one reason why Twitch has become so popular as a platform. And what better way to learn everything about streaming before you do it yourself than to learn from those who are already doing it successfully?
How to Become a Casino Streamer
We will mainly focus on Twitch streaming, as YouTube is on a nowadays famous crusade to shut down casino streams, probably because of their lengthy Terms & Conditions which doesn’t allow gambling related content in all markets.
First things first, you’ll need to create an account. It is pretty straightforward and requires only your email, password and a nickname. Now, since you’re trying to build a brand and get recognised on the platform, think about the nickname you want to use more than twice! Your nickname is mostly how people are going to refer to you or your brand, and that’s the name you’re going to use on social media profiles and on any other platforms. It will also be in the URL of your stream, behind the slash, after the Twitch.tv domain.
Customise Your Profile
You want to pick a theme and fit it with your profile- and background image. The background image will be visible to people who go to your channel while you’re offline, or when they are browsing through your old streamed content.
The second thing you need to spend time on is the description panel. It’s located below the video screen. Look what other casino streamers have put there and follow the pattern. The key things are:
- Information about you, watchers will need get to know more about your past, age and whatever you feel comfortable sharing, the more personal and honest you can be – the better
- What games you usually play, what are your favourite slot machines and live casino games etc.
- Let them know how can they support you; by donating, by buying merchandise, clicking affiliate links or by following you on other social media platforms
You can customise the entire panel by yourself, use already made templates, or pay professional designers to get something unique if you don’t have the time or skill to do it yourself.
Required PC and Internet Specifications
Here is what Twitch recommends in terms of PC specifications:
- Intel Core i5-4670 processor, or the AMD equivalent
- At least 8GB of RAM
- Windows 7, 8 or 10
If you plan on streaming only casino games, then you most likely won’t need the latest NVIDIA or AMD graphics card released. If you plan to stream newer PC games sometimes, then you’ll need to consider upgrading to at least GTX 1070 or even GTX 1080 Ti, which can handle almost all new games while recording and whatnot.
Use any keyboard, monitor, speakers, headset and mouse you prefer. The one thing experienced streamers recommend is having at least two monitors in front of you at all times. That allows you to play the game on the main screen while reading through the chat and donations on the secondary one. Obviously, it doesn’t hurt to have a really good mic as well so that your viewers can hear you properly.
The internet speed is crucial, as you are broadcasting both your screen and possibly webcam recording to anyone who visits your channel. Twitch says that at least 3.5MBps is needed in order to stream 720p quality without any interruptions or frame losses. Even though 1080p sounds more appealing, you might want to stick to 720p at first just to try things out. Remember that the content is key, and 720p is by no means poor.
Do not worry about frames per second when playing casino games, as it won’t make any big difference between 60 FPS and 30 FPS. As mentioned, if your upload speeds are extremely high, then you can max out everything without hesitation. Twitch allows its members to change the quality on the receiving end, allowing them to lower down to 720p from your 1080p, and even lower if needed.
Best Casino Streaming Software
Twitch is supported by eight different streaming softwares:
- Bebo
- Streamlabs OBS
- XSplit Broadcaster
- Open Broadcast Software (OBS)
- Streamlabs
- StreamElements
- Muxy
- Opera Event
Some of them are used for specific actions, such as processing donations, while OBS and XSplit Broadcaster are the two most used and at the same time most important ones. The reason why most people choose Streamlabs OBS over XSplit is the fact that it’s free. XSplit has a free version as well, but it does come with restrictions until you buy the full version. Why would you be restricted to streaming at 720p and 30 frames per second, when you can use OBS and get all the possible features for free.
It takes some time to properly set up OBS, but there are countless tutorials online, explaining in great detail how to do it the right way. Be careful when picking the server, as you don’t want your data to go across two continents, wasting your time and ruining the experience. Pick the one that’s closest to where you live. Make sure to remember all the information you put in OBS, as you’ll need to copy and paste it when connecting it with Twitch.
How to Earn Money from Casino Streaming
There are three major ways of getting paid while streaming:
- By getting as many subscribers as you can
- Through casino affiliation
- Through donations
Standard subscription on Twitch is $4.99 at the moment, but there are other options such as Amazon Prime Subscription, which has different price ranges. Create sub emojis, which only people who are subscribed to your channel can use. Do giveaways or raffles when you can afford. You’ll have to apply for a partnership with Twitch in order to get the subscription button. There are no specific requirements, but you want to get at least ten thousand followers before even trying.
New streamers usually rely on donations, as you can set up a donation button in the description panel, which leads to PayPal or any other payment service which your fans can use to send you money.
How to Get Recognised as a Casino Streamer
Everything in life is a hard nut to crack in the beginning, but the more you do it and the better you get at it, the easier it gets. Start by letting all of your friends and family know that you’re streaming. Who knows – maybe it’s exactly them who will spread the word for you.
If you have a streaming nickname, create separate social media profiles using the same name. Do this on not only the most popular ones, such as Facebook and Instagram, but also on the smaller ones as you want to reach as many people as possible. Make sure to update profiles regularly and always make announcements when you go live by putting the link in the description, status, comments or images. See what other popular streamers within casino streaming or slots streaming are doing and pick up some of the things all of them do, such as regularly glancing at the chat and communicating with the audience.
Make a schedule and stick to it. This is one of the most important things to do, as people who liked your stream want to know when they will be able to see it again. Create an easy-to-read table in the description panel and don’t let it sit at the bottom but try to bring attention to it by putting it at the top and by mentioning it while streaming.
Be unique. If you want to be successful at streaming and make your channel grow, you need to do at least one of these three:
- Be an expert at what you are doing
- Be entertaining and funny
- Do unique and stand out from the crowd by doing something no one else does
By doing two out of the three, your odds of being a successful casino streamer increase heavily, while fulfilling all three will be like hitting the jackpot. Stand out from the crowd!
Popular Casino Streamers
Even though some streamers from this list already had success on other platforms, the vast majority started from zero and climbed their way up:
- Gambler_master
- Casinolucker
- Mrslothunter
- Higamblers
- Lowbrat
- Ineuop
- CasinoDaddy
- Cassinogirl
They get thousands of viewers on a regular basis mostly by playing online slot machines. Once you start getting followers and hopefully subscribers, you can reach out to these streamers and ask if they want to collaborate with you. This is another great way of getting recognised on the platform, as at least some portion of their viewership will start watching you and vice versa.
Bonus Tips on Casino Streaming
Here are a few more things that can help you jumpstart your casino streaming career:
- Be natural or get in a character you came up with if you think that’s going to work
- Stay away from using bots to increase the number of viewers
- Stream on YouTube or other platforms if you want as well, but since YouTube is shutting down casino related streams, we do not recommend investing time on it. Twitch has tens of millions of daily users, which makes other websites almost irrelevant
- Visit events and communicate or even meet with other big streamers you like to share insights and get recognised by the community
- Always pay attention to what your viewers see on their screen, make sure to interact as much as you can!
Have fun, enjoy doing it and who knows – one day, it may become your job and a stable source of income for a while. Good luck and let us know how you did!