Few, if anyone, in the world can claim to be as a big a name in both gambling and gaming as Felix “xQc” Lengyel. The Quebec-born internet personality’s prodigious talent at gaming, his awkward internet edge lord personality and, later, his high stakes gambling, have turned him into one of the most watched live streamers of all time. And made him hundreds of millions of dollars. But how did it happen?
From a 17 year old playing Overwatch from his mom’s house in Quebec, to a rapid rise and fall in esports, to $100 million deals with online casinos, Los Angeles mansions and interviews with President Donald Trump – this, is the unlikely story of xQc.
Early Years and Controversial Esports Career
Lengyel was born in Laval in Quebec, Canada, in 1995. As a child he was a self admitted troublemaker, but also had a keen interest in cinematography and gaming. His online gamer tag, that would eventually become his career pseudonym, was derived from a combination of the last letter of his surname – X – and the province code for Quebec, QC.
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Lengyel’s career in streaming got its start with the debut of competitive team shooter Overwatch in 2016. By November 2017, xQc’s skills on Blizzard’s much-hyped game had gathered him 5000 average viewers on Twitch.
He then joined the pro team Dallas Fuel, for whom he played tank over two seasons in the Overwatch League. However, his esports career would be short lived. The fan favorite team went 0-3 in the opening weeks of the League. At the same time xQc was suspended for using a homophobic slur and an emote considered racist while discussing League results on stream.
Although he briefly came back to the team, the Fuel parted ways with him full time in 2018. During his Overwatch career he also represented team Canada at the Overwatch World Cup three times. In 2017 he reached the World Cup final with Canada, only to lose in a clean sweep to a dominant South Korea.
Variety Streaming Takeover and Gambling Pivot
After being dropped by the Fuel, xQc moved into full time streaming. His controversial suspension and reputation for toxic behaviour and edgy humor only gave him notoriety online, and by 2019 he had a million monthly subs on Twitch.
By this point he had mostly moved on from Overwatch and was what is known as a “variety streamer”. His canny knack for finding hyped and trending games right as they became popular also helped him stay relevant. Games and activities xQc would stream on Twitch include:
- Fortnite
- League of Legends
- Call of Duty
- Among Us
- Fall Guys
- Reacting to YouTube compilations
- Bringing in streamer friends
- Playing chess
In 2020, xQc appeared on popular celebrity chess tournament PogChamps, where he lost in six moves to fellow streamer Charlie “MoistCr1tikal” White. The video of the short match became one of the most popular ever on Chess.com’s YouTube channel racking up tens of millions of views.
Popular Dog Streamer and Kick Deal
By 2022, xQc was the most watched streamer on Twitch, racking up hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers. It was reported around this time he was making $8 million a year from subs alone.
However, his time on the platform was not without controversy. Firstly, his sporadic gambling on stream. At first completely sponsored by casino Stake.com, xQc would eventually begin gambling at other casinos too. There were also continued instances of explicit content mistakenly displayed on his stream, for which he received several bans.
When Twitch updated its rules to crack down on gambling content in late 2022, xQc stopped streaming gambling for a while. But then, in June 2023, he announced he would be exclusively moving to platform Kick – the streaming service run by the owners of Stake.
As you might expect, there are no rules against gambling on Kick. xQc, who had around this time moved back to Canada, immediately began streaming more gambling sessions – and his stakes only went up. He was reportedly paid $100 million by Kick, which is one of the largest individual deals in entertainment history.
In 2024 he made headlines after showing his Stake account balance and transactions, which showed he had gambled a total of $1 billion with the platform over three years. He continues to stream gambling to this day – although not as frequently as at some points. He has even streamed himself visiting Las Vegas casinos with fellow superstar streamer Adin Ross.
So, from a typical childhood in suburban Toronto, to professional Overwatch player, to hundreds of millions in the bank and global fame, that is how Felix “xQc” Lengel became not only one of the biggest names on the internet, but also in gambling history.
