I recently came across a story that gives quite a lot to think about. It all started with Drake losing millions in bitcoins playing live slot machines, but the strange part wasn't the loss itself, but how suddenly "Eddie" — Ed Craven, the co-founder of Stake — appeared on screen to cheer him on, topping up his wallet and suggesting which games to play. And here’s the interesting part: the data they analyzed shows that Drake won bigger prizes at a rate four times higher than average when playing on Easygo machines, the parent company of Stake.

For context, Stake is now the largest cryptocurrency casino in the world. Nearly unregulated, based in Curaçao, with a huge audience. According to reports, the site handles around 10 billion dollars in bets monthly. And the craziest part is that the streaming platform Kick, also owned by Craven, has propelled all this. Since Kick launched in 2022, Stake’s traffic has multiplied by five. The numbers that came to light show that Stake revenue in 2022 was 47 billion after bonus payments, with an 80% growth compared to previous years. In December, Craven himself announced that the total deposit volume for the year reached 18 billion dollars.

What caught my attention is how all this works. Influencers like Drake, Adin Ross, xQc, and Trainwreckstv signed contracts worth millions to stream live betting on Stake. Some of them receive between 45 and 50 million weekly in cryptocurrencies. People watch these viral videos of massive wins and think it’s normal. But here’s the catch: some of these streamers admitted they use platform funds, not their own money. It’s like a motivational ad disguised as real gambling.

And then there’s Chris, a Swedish teenager who created an account on Stake without age verification. He went from gambling occasionally to betting between 10,000 and 40,000 dollars weekly in bitcoins during the pandemic. He requested self-exclusion several times, but Craven simply unlocked his account or made it "suspended" so he could withdraw funds. Over seven years, Chris lost about 1.5 million dollars. When he finally stopped playing, he realized that would be worth between 15 and 20 million today.

The analysis they did of 500 hours of live streams was brutal. Drake won big prizes approximately every 2,500 spins, while the average is one every 10,000 spins. When he played on third-party machines, his rate was normal. Stake refused to share data on win rates and simply said the findings were "completely wrong." But the numbers don’t lie.

The most worrying part is how Stake operates in jurisdictions where it’s illegal. It’s blocked in the United States, the UK, France, and Australia, but people use VPNs to access it. Even Easygo employees in Australia do the same. In the US, they operate under a "lottery" model where virtual coins are used, but it’s basically the same. Meanwhile, Craven lives in a mansion in Melbourne that cost $56.8 million.

Lawsuits are starting to come in. In Missouri, Stake, Drake, and Ross are accused of making statistically impossible winnings seem normal, deceiving players about real risks. In California, they’re accused of operating the "largest and most profitable illegal gambling" in the state’s history. But here’s the absurd part: Stake’s license is in a small office facing a cemetery in Curaçao. The island imposes fines of $12,500 for violations, which is roughly a minute and a half of Stake’s betting revenue.

A Dutch activist named Nardy Cramm has been fighting this from Curaçao. She has helped over 100 players recover 15 million euros in settlements, but she says Stake is especially difficult. She denies everything, files counterclaims, delays proceedings. Its corporate structure is scattered globally: main entity in Curaçao, headquarters in Australia, payment processing in Cyprus, developers in the UK, call center in Serbia. It’s practically impossible to track.

What’s clear to me is that Stake revenue in 2022 was just the beginning. This model of influencers broadcasting seemingly unlimited winnings to young audiences, combined with minimal identity verification and manipulated-looking win rates, is a toxic cocktail. Two former Stake employees mentioned that the company’s social media inbox was full of suicidal threats from problem gamblers. That should be enough for someone to take action.

Drake went back to streaming after criticizing Stake for not letting him withdraw funds. Ross moved to Rainbet with a $100 million contract. But Chris, the Swede, finally stepped away. Although he still receives hundreds of dollars monthly in referral commissions, constantly reminding him of how much he lost. His legal case in Curaçao is still pending. The question is: how many more like him are out there before something truly changes?