I just read something quite disturbing about the empire of cryptocurrency casinos. It turns out that Stake, the world's largest gaming platform, has been operating in a complete legal gray area, and the craziest part is how they use influencers to attract young people.

To understand the magnitude: Stake processes approximately 10 billion bets per month, which accounts for 4% of Bitcoin's annual transaction volume. Its revenue after bonuses reached $47 billion in 2024, an 80% increase since 2022. That’s real money generated from a platform that is virtually unregulated.

What caught my attention was Bloomberg’s analysis of live streams. They studied 500 hours of streamers playing slot machines on Stake, including Drake, Adin Ross, and other top-tier influencers. The result is alarming: Drake won big prizes four times more often than average. While normal players win a significant prize every 10,000 spins, Drake did so every 2,500. That’s not luck; that’s statistically impossible.

And here’s the most shady part: Ed Craven, the co-founder, appeared live encouraging Drake during his streams, even topping up his account when he was losing. Records show Craven maintained direct communication with VIP players, including influencers who had signed contracts worth millions of dollars. Some streamers admitted they were using platform funds, not their own money. Craven even told Ross which games to play and when, as if he controlled the outcome.

The corporate structure is a labyrinth: Stake is registered in Curaçao, headquartered in Australia, payment processing in Cyprus, developers in the UK, call centers in Serbia. It’s almost impossible to regulate. Curaçao fines operators with just $12,500 each, which is less than two minutes of Stake’s revenue.

What really worries me is the case of Chris, a Swedish teenager who started playing casually and ended up losing $1.5 million in cryptocurrencies over seven years. Stake never asked him for identity verification when he deposited 14 bitcoins (100,000 dollars at that time). When he requested self-exclusion, Craven directly contacted him via Telegram offering reloads and bonuses. This happened again and again.

There are more than 10 class-action lawsuits in the United States accusing Stake, Drake, and Ross of deceiving players, presenting statistically extremely rare winnings as if they were normal. California accuses them of orchestrating “one of the largest and most profitable illegal gambling activities in the state’s history.” The UK shut down Stake after investigating their ads targeted at young people.

Meanwhile, Craven lives in a mansion in Melbourne he bought for AUD 80 million in 2022. The top influencers are still on the platform earning eight-figure monthly incomes. Ross signed with another casino for $100 million after being sued. Drake returned to streaming, announcing he would share bonuses with his audience.

The irony is that Craven created Kick, an “independent” streaming platform, specifically after Twitch banned cryptocurrency betting streams. But they share the same parent company, Easygo, the same executives, the same office in Melbourne. Employees work simultaneously for both. It’s the same operation under two names.

This is a reminder of why we need regulation in the crypto space. The most addictive product promoted in the most insidious way to the most vulnerable population, as a British activist said. Stake’s revenue continues to grow exponentially while thousands of players, many minors, lose fortunes in what appears to be a system manipulated from the start.