I Stumbled Upon The Strange World Of TikTok Slot Gambling.

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

When I was in Atlantic City, I started to see some gambling TikTok Lives. I won’t post the usernames because I don’t want to get them in trouble, but if you look for “slots” you’ll find a few.

These Lives show people playing at slot machines. I thought that was it: Just watching someone gamble for entertainment.

That was fine to me: I liked watching people play — it’s like I’m getting of the entertainment of the machine without having to actually lose money.

But I soon realized there’s more than meets the eye:

1. According to these slot machine players, TikTok doesn’t allow them to ask for money or say which casino they’re in. I’m not sure how true it is, but these TikTokers are careful to say things like “I’m in Vegas” instead of a specific casino. They will also never ask for money, and say instead, “people can donate.”
2. Here’s how it works, apparently: You can “donate” money to the people gambling, and there’s usually a minimum of at least $100, and you’ll be on a queue. After a certain number of people “donate”, then the line is full and the person doing the live will no longer accept “donations.”
3. The streamer will play the money you sent. You can pick which machine, how much you wanna bet, if you want them to quick…