There was a time a few years ago when, according to SGG Media CEO Troy Paul, people livestreaming their online casino play was the fastest growing market on Twitch.

The only problem? It was all illegal casinos that were behind the growth. As a result — and after some controversy surrounding a streamer conning people out of money — Twitch banned the livestreams. But the company did allow for licensed and legal operators to be able to stream.

And now, the first licensed and legal operator is doing just that.

PlayStar Casino, which operates in New Jersey, has teamed up with SGG to offer — as of now — three online casino livestreams each week.

“The American casino space is in the second inning, it’s just beginning,” Paul told US Bets. “But the world of online streaming of casino games has existed for quite a while in Europe legally, and in the U.S. for the last three, four years, but for the most part illegally with crypto casino providers and illegal operators.”

But Paul knew it was only a matter of time before legal operators got into the space, and he wanted to find a partner to be first to market.

As it happens, SGG shares a PR firm with PlayStar, and that’s how the two companies got together.

And for PlayStar, it fits right in with its plans.

No ‘spray and pray’

“PlayStar is a pure online casino brand in New Jersey, we’ve been around since August 2022,” PlayStar CMO Jon Bowden said. “Our [marketing] plan has always been trackable channels we could get a strong ROI on and that we could scale fast and efficiently. We’re doing things differently than the rest of the market, which has been doing a ‘spray and pray’ approach. We wanted to find a way to get the brand out there. We were lucky enough through our shared PR agency to be introduced to each other. The vision Troy has just really fits in with the strategy PlayStar has. It’s authentic, we’re driving brand awareness and conversions, and we can understand what the impacts of the show are doing down to a new player level.” 

Called Casino Stream, the show airs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.

But this is just the beginning — after all, it’s only been a month since launch.

“We want this to be 12 hours a day with over 200 streamers,” Paul said.

The streamers are all New Jersey residents, and they were hand-picked by SGG for their ability to bring in audiences. And so far, it’s working.

“Within three weeks, we surpassed 1,000 followers,” Paul said. “Viewership numbers are growing, and it’s because we really have a fantastic product.”

Bowden is equally thrilled.

“The viewers are growing, the interactions are growing, it’s driving new traffic through,” he said. “We’re up to 100,000 views on Instagram, and that’s going to be snippets from big wins, which we will package to drive awareness.”

As an added bonus, PlayStar account holders can win prizes simply for watching the stream, as well as engage with the streamers.

“People can log in and play with their favorite influencer, they can chat with him, they can win money,” Paul said.

Of course, as with any good idea, there are bound to be copycats, and both Paul and Bowden recognize bigger fish might jump into the pond.

“No doubt other companies will launch similar products, but it’s not as easy as it sounds to get built,” Paul said. “We represent 2,000 influencers. To find the right ones to do this isn’t so easy.”

Photo: Getty Images.