What Happened to Stake.com?

Stake.com emerged in 2017 as a prominent online casino and sports betting platform, co-founded by Australian entrepreneurs Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. Their journey began earlier with Primedice in 2013, a cryptocurrency dice game, which provided the foundation and capital for their more ambitious venture. Stake distinguished itself by offering a crypto-first approach, allowing users to wager various cryptocurrencies on a wide array of casino games and sports events. This model, coupled with aggressive marketing and a focus on transparency through provably fair gaming, quickly propelled Stake to global recognition.

The company's growth was significantly fueled by high-profile sponsorships and celebrity endorsements. By 2021, Stake was investing heavily in marketing, securing deals with major sports entities like the UFC, Premier League football clubs (Everton FC), and Formula 1 (Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber). They also gained immense publicity through partnerships with streaming personalities and musicians like Drake, who livestreamed their gambling sessions on platforms like Twitch. This strategy, while highly effective in expanding its user base, also drew criticism for targeting younger audiences and potentially promoting irresponsible gambling habits.

A key turning point occurred in 2022 when Twitch banned gambling streams, prompting Craven and Tehrani to launch their own competing livestreaming service, Kick.com, in 2023. Kick offered more favorable revenue splits to streamers and looser content guidelines, becoming a significant part of Stake's ecosystem. However, Stake faced a major security breach on September 4, 2023, when approximately $41 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from its hot wallets. The FBI later attributed this sophisticated attack to the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group, raising significant concerns about crypto gambling security.

Regulatory challenges have been a recurring theme for Stake. In February 2025, Stake announced its withdrawal from the UK market, giving up its gambling license after an investigation by the Gambling Commission into its social media promotions, including one featuring a pornographic content creator. The company cited a strategic decision to focus on securing local licenses through its in-house platform. Furthermore, in February 2026, India implemented the Online Gaming Act, 2025, resulting in a nationwide ban on real-money online gaming platforms like Stake.

Despite these setbacks, Stake has continued its global expansion. In February 2026, it secured a five-year online casino and sports betting license in Denmark, with plans to open new headquarters in Copenhagen on March 1, 2026. This move highlights Stake's strategy of entering regulated markets. Concurrently, Stake is facing multiple class-action lawsuits in the United States, filed by gamblers who allege the platform misrepresents itself as a legal 'sweepstakes' model while actually enabling real-money gambling. Recent reports in February 2026 also highlighted claims of statistical discrepancies in big wins for high-profile streamers on Kick, which Stake has vehemently denied, calling the investigation 'categorically incorrect.'

As of March 1, 2026, Stake.com remains a dominant force in the crypto gambling industry, with reported revenues of $4.7 billion in 2024 and an estimated valuation between $14 billion and $23.5 billion in 2025. It continues to innovate with new game releases and promotions, and its parent company, Easygo, reported profits of AU$257 million for the year ending June 30, 2025, with AU$5 billion in total assets. The company's future will likely involve further navigation of diverse international regulations, ongoing legal battles, and continued efforts to expand its market presence through strategic partnerships and technological advancements.