Stake (online casino)

Stake is an Australian-Curaçaoan online casino. It is operated by Medium Rare NV, a company incorporated in Curaçao where it holds an online casino licence. It is a global company with offices in Serbia, Australia, Cyprus and staff globally.

History
In 2016, Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani established Easygo, a company which developed games for online casinos. The two helped create Stake, which was founded in 2017.

In December 2021, Stake launched in the United Kingdom in partnership with TGP Europe.

On August 1, 2022, Stake.us was opened, to offer service to players in the United States.

In June 2023, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed a $580 million lawsuit against Stake due to jurisdictional issues. The plaintiff, Christopher Freeman, was an early associate of Craven and Tehrani, alleged he had been shut out of the business and mislead using illegal tactics.

On September 4, 2023, over US$41 million in funds was stolen from one of the company's Ethereum wallets in an apparent hack. The Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the hack to North Korea's Lazarus Group.

Offerings
Stake offers traditional casino games (such as slots, blackjack and roulette) and sports betting. It offers video streams with live dealers.

Users at Stake generally transact in cryptocurrencies rather than traditional currencies for their betting accounts. Account balances can be withdrawn in the equivalent value of cryptocurrency and then deposited back into the user's personal cryptocurrency wallet. Users of Stake's UK site deal only in fiat currency.

Sponsorships
Stake has invested in sponsorship deals across several sports, including with UFC fighter Israel Adesanya, English football teams Gillingham, Watford, Everton, Indian football club Mumbai City, Argentine footballer Sergio Agüero, Formula One reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi and his brother, Formula 2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi, Canadian musician Drake, and the Gennady Golovkin vs. Ryōta Murata boxing match. Stake is also sponsoring UFC Light Heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA.

In January 2023, the Alfa Romeo F1 Team announced that Stake would be their title sponsor in a multi-year deal, with the team renamed to "Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake". The sponsorship deal continued with Sauber after Alfa Romeo's departure from Formula One at the end of the 2023 season. Sauber entered the 2024 and will enter 2025 seasons as "Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber" but goes as "Stake F1 Team" on a day-to-day basis.