Fans of poker vlogs faced some bad news this week when Brad Owen revealed that MGM have banned filming at all their properties, poker as usual caught up in the mix with gambling issues…
Just took a seat at @BellagioPoker and was told that as of a half hour ago, they’re no longer allowing poker vlogs at any MGM properties. Not good…
— Brad Owen (@TheBradOwen) January 21, 2023
Owen is known not only as a popular vlogger but also as one third of the trio – along with Doug Polk and Andrew Neeme – who bought the Lodge Poker Room in Austin, Texas.
He has filmed himself playing the best in the world, the following hand against Phil Ivey a particular favourite…
The Vegas-based pro clarified that it wasn’t a poker-based rule change that curtailed his filming:
“To be clear, I was told that this wasn’t a decision that came from @ThePokerBoss but maybe he can help get things sorted in the future.”
The “Poker Boss” is Sean McCormack, the Director of Poker Strategy at MGM Resorts International, who has yet to comment on the vlogging ban.
The reason for the ban? According to Owen, it’s nothing to do with poker at all, but rather TwitchTV streaming of slot machine play, poker caught up in a scattergun response…
Update: was just told the policy change was due to people playing slot machines on twitch at MGM properties. They instated a blanket policy that unfortunately affects poker vloggers.
— Brad Owen (@TheBradOwen) January 21, 2023
Twitch & Poker
As we revealed last year, poker was almost caught in the crossfire of a TwitchTV ban on online gambling.
The Amazon-owned platform cracked down on a multitude of games and websites after an outcry surrounding streamer “ItsSliker”—real name Abraham Jehad Mohammed— who admitted to scamming his followers out of as much as $300,000 in order to gamble.
Poker was thankfully exempt from the ban and hopefully MGM will see sense and also give poker vlogging a hall pass, Jaime Staples sharing his thoughts on why poker deserves to be treated differently…
And for anyone that may not know about gambling and the difference between poker and everything else in a casino, here is a simple explanation as to why it is different: https://t.co/hKPuOFcwjS pic.twitter.com/ZFxBc54l3k
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) September 19, 2022
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