"My main competition is busy promoting an unregulated gambling site" - Hans Niemann seemingly calls out GMHikaru for gambling

Twitch and Kick streamer and popular Chess Grandmaster Hikaru "GMHikaru" has certainly raised some eyebrows after his latest stream on Kick.com. The streamer broadcasted his first-ever sponsored gambling stream on the popular online slots and roulette website Stake.com. The owner of Stake (Ed Craven), for those unaware, also happens to be one of the primary proprietors of the streaming platform.

Hikaru has been a non-exclusive streamer of Kick since March 2023 and has almost always done either reaction streams or Chess streams. This trend ended yesterday (April 25) after he hosted his first-ever online gambling stream.

Naturally, this was cause for concern for his loyal fan base. Fellow Chess player and streamer Hans Niemann, who had filed a lawsuit against Hikaru, also called out the streamer, stating that he thinks he can get the number one ranking on the Chess.com website:

"I’m optimistic about getting #1 on Chess.com as it seems my main competition is busy promoting an unregulated gambling site to their underage audience."

Hans Niemann is critical of Hikaru after the latter does a gambling stream. (Image via X)

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GMHikaru hosts online gambling stream for the first time on Kick.com

Aside from Magnus Carlsen, GMHikaru probably stands out as the most renowned chess player globally. However, he recently surprised his fan base by venturing into new territory. Yesterday, the streamer held his first-ever gambling stream, a move that caught many off guard.

He possibly secured a sponsorship from Stake.com for his stream. Evidence of this can be found in his "About" section on Kick, where the logo of the gambling site prominently appears:

GMHikaru may have had a gambling sponsorship. (Image via Kick)

A prominent chess account on X.com (@ChessProblem) expressed further criticism towards the Chess streamer for his recent decision to stream gambling content, citing concerns about his predominantly underage audience. They wrote:

"They use crypto for gambling because it's unregulated, making it much easier to exploit an underage audience. This is gross and it is aimed at kids."

Hikaru Nakamura under fire after hosting first-ever gambling stream. (Image via X)

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Fans are certainly divided over his recent choice of content. At present, it's uncertain whether GMHikaru will continue with more gambling streams. However, he hasn't posted any gambling content on his YouTube channel yet, since it is mainly reserved for his Chess games or other Chess-related content.