Stake by the Numbers: What a Crypto Casino Got From F1, UFC and Drake – and Why It’s Pulling Back

In five years, Stake has gone from being a Curaçao-licensed crypto casino to a title sponsor of a Formula 1 team, a UFC partner, and the main sponsor of an EPL club. Gross gaming revenue grew from $105 million in 2020 to $4.7 billion in 2024. We’ll break down how much the deals cost, what they brought to the brand, and why, by the fall of 2026, the brand’s high-profile presence had either shut down or moved from the front of the shirt to the sleeve.

Key Takeaways

• Sports sponsorships came cheap for Stake. Three deals with publicly reported costs – F1, Everton, and Drake – amounted to approximately $140 million per year, or around 3% of 2024 GGR (15M calculations based on media estimates);
• The main channel is not F1, but its own streaming platform. Kick, launched by Stake’s founders after the Twitch gambling ban, generated 4.5 billion hours watched in 2025, up 131% year-over-year (Stream Hatchet);
• Stake’s market presence is shrinking. Stake exited the UK in March 2025, lost its F1 sponsorship after the 2025 season, moved its branding to Everton’s sleeve, shut down Stake.us in California, and faced a betting ban in Brazil under a provisional measure effective September 25, 2026.

Who are Stake, and how much do they earn?

Stake was founded by Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. Prior to that, they had launched Primedice, a Bitcoin dice game, in February 2013. Stake.com launched in June 2017 with a team of seven people (Forbes Australia, 2025).

The brand is divided into three parts. Stake.com operates under a Curaçao license through Medium Rare N.V. and accepts cryptocurrency. Stake.us is the U.S. sweepstakes version, which does not involve direct cash wagers. Stake.it is an Italian operator with an ADM concession (Tuttosport, 2026). Technology and game development are handled by Melbourne-based Easygo.

Stake.com does not publish financial reports. The figures are known from interviews with the founders and Easygo’s filings with the Australian regulator, ASIC.

Table 1. Stake and Easygo in Figures. GGR figures are company-reported and have not been independently audited. Easygo is not the operator of Stake.com; its revenue should not be equated with the casino’s revenue.

There is one thing to keep in mind. According to Easygo’s financial statements, its marketing budget totals just A$15 million per year. That’s less than what Everton earns from a single season of jersey sponsorship. This means that sponsorship contracts are paid for by another legal entity within the group. How the money is allocated among them has not been publicly disclosed.

Acquisitions: What Stake Bought and How Much It Cost

F1. In January 2023, Stake became a co-title partner of the Alfa Romeo team, which was managed by Sauber. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the three-year contract was worth A$140 million (BlackBook Motorsport, 2023), or about US$91 million. Forbes Australia provides a similar estimate – $100 million over three years.

Stake has secured exclusive naming rights for 2024 and 2025. The team competed as the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber; Kick purchased the naming rights to the chassis. No one disclosed the price of that portion of the deal. In July 2025, the future Audi factory team announced Revolut as its title partner, and Stake left F1 after the 2025 season.

Team principal Alessandro Alunni Bravi explained the rationale behind the deal in 2023 as follows: “The arrival of brands like Stake shows just how much exposure our sport can provide” (BlackBook Motorsport).

UFC. In March 2021, Stake became the UFC’s first-ever official betting partner in Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Asia. In February 2022, the deal was expanded to include Brazil. Stake received in-octagon branding during select PPV and Fight Night events, sponsorship status for Brazilian PPV events, and an annual fund for fighter ambassadors. The chief ambassador is Israel Adesanya (UFC.com, 2022). The amount was not disclosed.

“Stake.com has been an excellent partner over the past year, and we’re excited to continue our relationship,” said Nick Smith, UFC Vice President of Global Partnerships, at the time. Stake.com CEO Mladen Vučković replied briefly: “Our relationship with the UFC is only getting stronger” (UFC.com, Feb. 10, 2022).

Everton. In June 2022, Stake became the club’s main sponsor. The deal set a club record (Sportcal, 2026); the press estimated its value at more than £10 million per year (Casino.org, 2022). Starting with the 2026–27 season, the Premier League banned gambling brands from appearing on the front of jerseys. CMC Markets took its place – according to press reports, for £30 million. Under a multi-year extension, Stake moved its branding to the sleeve and retained its branding at stadiums and the training facility (Sportcal, July 1, 2026).

Drake. The most expensive and most high-profile deal. According to the Financial Times (March 2023), the rapper’s contract was worth more than $100 million a year (Complex, 2025; Techloy, 2026). In August 2025, Drake publicly complained about “four blocked withdrawal attempts” on Stake, criticized Craven and Tehrani, and deleted his account on Kick (Complex, Aug. 24, 2025). Profiles of Drake and other ambassadors can be found in the Personas 15M catalog.

Table 2. Known Stake and Kick deals. None of the amounts have been confirmed by the companies; all figures are press estimates, with sources cited.

How much is that as a percentage of revenue? If we spread the F1 deal over three years, that’s about $30 million per year. Add in Everton (about $12.5 million at 2022 exchange rates) and Drake ($100 million). That comes to about $140 million per year – roughly 3% of 2024 GGR. This is 15M’s calculation based on press estimates, not an official figure. This is significantly less than the marketing share of publicly traded, regulated operators; a breakdown of their expenses can be found in the 15M article “Where Does the GGR Dollar Go?”

Kick: a channel you can’t turn off

In September 2022, Twitch banned Stake streams, citing a “lack of consumer protection” (Forbes Australia, 2025). Tehrani later put it this way: “People don’t know this, but Twitch has never banned gambling. They only banned us.”

The answer was Kick. The platform takes 5% of streamers’ subscription revenue, compared to Twitch’s 50%. In June 2023, Kick signed xQc: according to the New York Times, the deal was worth about $70 million over two years and up to $100 million with bonuses. Craven told the NYT at the time that Kick would operate at a loss in order to gain market share (Card Player, 2023).

The data confirms this growth. In 2024, Kick recorded 2.3 billion viewing hours (Forbes Australia). In 2025, according to a different methodology, it reached 4.5 billion hours (a 131% increase year-over-year), with the total live-streaming market standing at 36.4 billion hours (Stream Hatchet via Net Influencer, 2026). Twitch recorded 19.2 billion hours for the same year.

For Stake, this solves two problems. The first is a channel to its audience that cannot be shut down by a third-party platform. The second is a backup brand. Where Stake couldn’t advertise, the F1 car raced with the Kick logo: in 2023, this was the case in Australia, Spain, Belgium, and Qatar (BlackBook Motorsport, 2024). In an interview with Forbes Australia, Craven described the platform’s role as follows: “It’s our responsibility to ensure that the right people – and not the wrong ones – get access to the platform.” To find out which streamers earn the most from this model, check out our ranking of The Most Influential Casino Streamers.

What It Delivered: Reach

Formula 1 sells scale. In 2024, races drew 6.5 million spectators, the cumulative TV audience totaled 1.6 billion, and F1 had 97 million followers on social media. Sponsorship accounts for 18.6% of F1’s revenue, which totaled $3.41 billion in 2024 (Liberty Media, 2025).

The team’s first major racing success came toward the end of the contract. On July 6, 2025, Nico Hülkenberg finished third at Silverstone – the team’s first podium finish since 2012 (theScore, 2025). Six months later, the Stake logo was removed from the car.

Stake’s business has grown over the years of its sponsorship: from more than $2 billion in GGR in 2022 to $4.7 billion in 2024, with over 21 million accounts. It’s impossible to prove that this growth was driven specifically by F1 and the UFC. Kick, streamers, and Drake were active at the same time, and most of the F1 audience lives in countries where Stake is not available.

The Downside: Where Stake Has Been Shut Down or Restricted

United Kingdom. Stake operated in the UK through the TGP Europe white label. In February 2025, the regulator launched an investigation following a viral video showing the Stake logo next to an adult film actress near the University of Nottingham. TGP suspended new registrations, and the website was shut down until March 11, 2025. The UKGC sent letters to Everton and two other clubs regarding the risks of advertising unlicensed sites (UK Gambling Commission, February 12, 2025). TGP had previously been fined £316,250.

Switzerland. This is Sauber’s home country. Stake has been on the Swiss blacklist since June 2021. In 2024, the ESBK investigated the relationship between the team and its sponsor: “Advertising for gambling that is not permitted in Switzerland is prohibited by law.” The maximum fine is CHF 500,000 (PlanetF1, 2024).

Australia. The company was founded in Australia, but it is illegal to gamble on Stake in Australia (Forbes Australia, 2025).

United States. Stake.us – a dual-currency sweepstakes model. In August 2025, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto filed a lawsuit against Stake.us, Kick, Craven, Tehrani, the providers Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw, and Evolution, and the KYC service Veriff. The claims seek a ban on operations in California and treble damages (World Casino Directory, 2025). Effective January 1, 2026, AB 831 prohibited sweepstakes in the state; Stake.us shut down on December 30, 2025 (SweepsKings, 2025). In October 2025, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Missouri against Stake.us, Drake, and Adin Ross (Sweepsy, 2025). Lawsuits have also been filed in Illinois and Alabama (NEXT.io, 2025).

Italy. Here, Stake entered the legal market. In 2024, it acquired Baldo Line – the operator of Idealbet.it, which holds an ADM license – and pledged to pay €7 million for a new nine-year concession (CDC Gaming / SBC News, 2024). Stake.it operates under concession GAD 16017, with a launch scheduled for September 2025 (Tuttosport, 2026).

Brazil. The latest story. Stake obtained a federal license (Portaria SPA/MF 263/2025), paid R$30 million for it, and invested R$128 million in the country. On September 25, 2026, Provisional Measure MP 1.394/2026 banned fixed-odds betting and suspended the license after 30 days. On October 8, the Federal Court of São Paulo extended Stake’s license until October 25 but denied its request to operate until 2029: “At this stage, there is insufficient certainty to guarantee the full continuation of operations until 2029,” wrote Judge Cristiane Farias Rodrigues dos Santos (Diario de Pernambuco, Oct. 8, 2026). On October 9, TRF-3 President Jones Di Salvo, at the request of the AGU, suspended this decision as well (SBT News, October 9, 2026).

Table 3. Stake Regulatory Landscape. Sources: UKGC, PlanetF1, Forbes Australia, World Casino Directory, SweepsKings, Sweepsy, CDC Gaming, Tuttosport, Diario de Pernambuco, SBT News.

Balance: What Was Purchased and How It Was Paid For

First: Brand recognition didn’t cost much. Approx. 3% of GGR spent annually on F1, Everton, and the rapper with the most streams, which is less than the marketing budgets of publicly traded and regulated operators.

Second: The most valuable asset was its own channel, not sport. The sponsorship contract will end, but Kick will stay. Growth from 2.3 to 4.5 billion hours annually gave Stake an audience that can’t be shut down by a decision from another platform and something you can’t buy from a rights holder. 

Third: The offshore model runs up against regulatory barriers. Every major sponsorship move has drawn the attention of regulators: the UKGC, ESBK, and U.S. Prosecutors. Stake’s response has been to obtain local licenses (Italy, Brazil). But Brazil has shown that even a R$30 million license does not protect you from a ban on your entire business.

What does that mean?

To operators. F1-level sponsorship isn’t just for public giants: with GGR in the billions, it’s a matter of percentages. But promoting your brand without a license in the host country is a risk for your partner, not just for you. Establish a second, clean brand for markets with restrictions, as Stake did with Kick, and calculate how many stages you’ll actually be able to display your logo.

To affiliates and streamers. Lawsuits in Missouri and Los Angeles name not only the operator but also the promoters (Drake and Adin Ross) as defendants. For U.S. sweepstakes traffic, this is a new risk: a contract with a streamer must explicitly allocate legal liability. Plus, there’s the issue with Drake’s withdrawals: a promoter’s reputation depends on how the brand pays out.

To sponsorship managers and rights holders. Clubs and teams are now responsible for their own due diligence: the UKGC has explicitly threatened club executives with criminal liability for advertising unlicensed websites. The ban on chest advertising in the Premier League didn’t kill gambling revenue – it just shifted it to the sleeves and the stadium. Expect to see the same pattern in other leagues.

To Providers. The Los Angeles lawsuit names Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw, and Evolution as defendants. Providing content to a sweepstakes operator is no longer a neutral matter: check which states your games are available in through such platforms and what your contract with them says about geoblocking.

Methodology

All transaction amounts are press estimates citing the original source; Stake has not confirmed any of them. We calculated the annual value of F1 by dividing A$140 million (≈US$91 million) by three years. The figure for Everton is based on an exchange rate from a 2022 publication (£10 million ≈ $12.5 million). The deal with Drake is cited as “more than $100 million per year” according to the FT; according to Gigwise, the figure was “up to $100 million per year” in the form of Stake gaming funds, meaning it is not necessarily real money. The GGR share is calculated against $4.7 billion for 2024 – this figure comes from the company itself and is not audited. Easygo’s financial statements pertain to the group’s technology company, not to the operator Stake.com. Status in Brazil is as of October 13, 2026.

Sources

1. Forbes Australia, M. Whittaker, “Ed Craven & the untold story of Stake” (February 24, 2025) – gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $105 million (2020) and $4.7 billion (2024), 30% of bets placed in cryptocurrency, F1 sponsorship worth US$100 million, Everton sponsorship worth US$12 million, Easygo’s 2023 profit of $206 million and tax payments of $102 million, Kick’s 2.3 billion hours watched (2024), Twitch gambling ban in September 2022, Australia, and quotes from Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. https://www.forbes.com.au/covers/magazine/how-ed-craven-and-bijan-tehrani-built-their-5-6-billion-fortune/
2. Forbes Australia, M. Craig, “These entrepreneurs went all in on a crypto casino” (June 9, 2024) – GGR exceeding $2 billion (2022), revenue of $2.6 billion (2023), and a $100 million F1 sponsorship deal over three years. https://www.forbes.com.au/news/billionaires/how-stake-made-australias-ed-craven-a-crypto-billionaire/
3. NEXT.io, E. Gibbs, “Easygo posts A$257m profit amid Stake and Kick growth” (December 22, 2025) – revenue of A$970 million, tax payments of approximately A$152 million, marketing expenses of A$15 million, 636 employees, 21 million accounts, GGR exceeding $4.5 billion (2024), and lawsuits in California, Illinois, and Alabama. https://next.io/?p=146716
4. BlackBook Motorsport, “Alfa Romeo F1 team secure ‘AU$140m’ Stake title partnership” (January 27, 2023) – AU$140 million over three years (according to The Sydney Morning Herald) and a quote from Alessandro Alunni Bravi. https://www.blackbookmotorsport.com/news/alfa-romeo-f1-team-title-partnership-stake/
5. BlackBook Motorsport, “Sauber confirms Stake rebrand for 2024 and 2025” (January 2, 2024) – exclusive naming rights for 2024–2025, with Kick replacing Stake branding at four races in 2023. https://www.blackbookmotorsport.com/news/sauber-stake-kick-title-sponsorship/
6. BlackBook Motorsport, “Audi brings in Revolut as first F1 title partner” (July 30, 2025) – Stake’s departure after 2025 and AU$140 million equivalent to approximately US$91 million. https://www.blackbookmotorsport.com/news/audi-revolut-f1-title-partner-2026-july-2025/
7. UFC.com, “UFC expands partnership with Stake.com” (February 10, 2022) – partnership terms, Brazil, and quotes from Nick Smith and Mladen Vuckovic. https://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-expands-partnership-stakecom-official-betting-partner-latin-america-and-asia
8. Casino.org, “UK Soccer Club Everton Signs Sponsorship Deal with Stake.com” (June 9, 2022) – sponsorship worth more than £10 million (US$12.51 million) annually. https://www.casino.org/news/uk-soccer-club-everton-signs-sponsorship-deal-with-stake-com/
9. Sportcal, “Everton add CMC Markets as main sponsor, Stake shifts to sleeve deal” (July 1, 2026) – CMC Markets sponsorship worth £30 million and Stake’s transition to sleeve sponsorship. https://www.sportcal.com/news/everton-add-cmc-markets-as-main-sponsor-stake-shifts-to-sleeve-deal/
10. Complex, T. Alston, “Drake calls out Stake for not letting him withdraw” (August 24, 2025) – Financial Times report of $100 million annually, blocked withdrawals, and deletion of Drake’s Kick account. https://www.complex.com/music/a/treyalston/drake-calls-out-stake-for-not-letting-him-withdraw-from-platform
11. Techloy, “Inside the Drake, Adin Ross & Stake lawsuits: a 2022–2026 timeline” (January 7, 2026) – Financial Times reporting from March 2023 and lawsuit filed December 31, 2025. https://www.techloy.com/inside-the-drake-adin-ross-stake-lawsuits-a-complete-2022-2026-timeline-of-the-alleged-gambling-scheme/
12. Card Player, “Gambling streaming service signs Twitch star xQc to $100 million deal” (June 20, 2023) – according to The New York Times, approximately $70 million over two years, potentially reaching approximately $100 million, and a 5% vs. 50% revenue-sharing commission comparison. https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/27952-gambling-streaming-service-signs-twitch-star-xqc-to-100-million-deal
13. Net Influencer, “Live streaming viewership hits four-year high as Kick surges” (February 18, 2026) – Stream Hatchet data: Kick reached 4.5 billion hours watched (+131%), the overall live-streaming market reached 36.4 billion hours, and Twitch recorded 19.2 billion hours. https://www.netinfluencer.com/live-streaming-viewership-hits-four-year-high-as-kick-surges-and-twitch-loses-ground/
14. Liberty Media, “Fourth quarter and year-end 2024 financial results” (February 27, 2025) – 6.5 million spectators, 1.6 billion cumulative TV viewers, 97 million followers, F1 revenue of $3,411 million, and sponsorship accounting for 18.6%. https://www.libertymedia.com/news/detail/557/liberty-media-corporation-reports-fourth-quarter-and-year/
15. theScore, “Hulkenberg’s wait over after 1st podium finish in 239th F1 race” (July 6, 2025). https://www.thescore.com/formula1/news/3308728
16. UK Gambling Commission, “Consumer information notice: Stake leaving GB market” (February 12, 2025). https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news/article/consumer-information-notice-stake-leaving-gb-market
17. PlanetF1, “Stake sponsorship triggers pre-season legal headache for Sauber” (February 7, 2024) – Swiss Federal Gaming Board (ESBK), Stake’s inclusion on the blacklist since June 2021, and potential fines of up to CHF 500,000. https://www.planetf1.com/news/stake-sponsorship-investigation-swiss-authorities-sauber-f1-team
18. World Casino Directory, “LA lawsuit accuses Stake.us and Kick of illegal gambling” (September 1, 2025). https://news.worldcasinodirectory.com/la-lawsuit-accuses-stake-us-and-kick-of-illegal-gambling-119609
19. SweepsKings, “Stake.us and Rolling Riches announce California exits” (November 12, 2025) – withdrawal from California effective December 30, 2025, and California Assembly Bill 831 (AB 831) taking effect January 1, 2026. https://sweepskings.com/news/stake-rollingriches-announce-california-exits/
20. Sweepsy, “Potential class action lawsuit implicates Stake.us and Drake” (October 28, 2025) – Killham v. Sweepsteaks, Jackson County, Missouri. https://www.sweepsy.com/news/class-action-implicates-stake-us-drake-illegal-gambling-allegations/
21. CDC Gaming (citing SBC News), “Stake to pay €7m fee and refresh Idealbet in Italy” (November 20, 2024). https://cdcgaming.com/brief/stake-to-pay-e7m-fee-and-refresh-idealbet-in-italy/
22. Tuttosport, “Stake” (updated June 9, 2026) – Stake Italy S.r.l., ADM GAD concession No. 16017, formerly Baldo Line/Idealbet, launch in September 2025, and Medium Rare N.V. as the operator of Stake.com. https://www.tuttosport.com/casino/stake
23. Diario de Pernambuco, “Justiça garante funcionamento de casa de apostas até 25 de outubro” [Court allows betting operator to continue operating until October 25] (October 8, 2026) – Provisional Measure No. 1,394/2026, Ordinance SPA/MF No. 263/2025, R$30 million and R$128 million, and a quote from the judge. https://www.diariodepernambuco.com.br/economia/2026/10/11726192-justica-garante-funcionamento-de-casa-de-apostas-ate-25-de-outubro-apos-proibicao-das-bets.html
24. SBT News, “Bets: Justiça suspende liminar para operação da Stake” [Court suspends injunction allowing Stake to operate] (October 9, 2026) – decision by Brazil’s Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3). https://sbtnews.sbt.com.br/noticia/brasil/bets-justica-suspende-liminar-para-operacao-da-stake
25. Gigwise, E. Garcia, “The Rise and Fall of Drake’s $100 Million Stake Deal” (October 10, 2025) – up to $100 million annually in gambling credits. https://www.gigwise.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-drakes-100-million-stake-deal/