Stake: who is behind it, with dates
Ed Craven and his co-founder Bijan Tehrani ran the bitcoin dice site Primedice before they started Stake in 2017 through Easygo, their Melbourne company. The stake.com footer names Medium Rare N.V. in Curaçao as the operator. Kick, the streaming site, came from the same two in late 2022. In the US the brand runs as Stake.us, a sweepstakes site.
- Founders
- Ed Craven, Bijan Tehrani
- Group
- Easygo, Melbourne, founded spring 2016
- Operator named in the stake.com footer
- Medium Rare N.V., registration 145353, Curaçao
- Launched
- 2017
- Revenue reported for 2023
- US$2.6 billion (Forbes Australia)
- Licensed in Germany
- No entry on the GGL whitelist (checked 12 Nov 2026)
Timeline
| When | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Craven and Tehrani start out in bitcoin gambling with Primedice, a dice game | Forbes Australia |
| Spring 2016 | Easygo founded in Melbourne with 18 staff | Forbes Australia |
| 2017 | Stake launches; slots, table games and a sportsbook follow | Forbes Australia |
| June 2022 | Everton announce Stake as main shirt partner from 1 July 2022, a club-record deal | Prolific North |
| 2022 | Partnership with Drake | Forbes Australia |
| 2022 | Stake.us opens as a sweepstakes site for US players | CryptoSlate |
| Late 2022 | Kick, a streaming site backed by Craven and Tehrani, goes live | Forbes Australia |
| 2023 | Co-title sponsor of the Alfa Romeo F1 team | Deccan Herald |
| 2024 to 2025 | Sauber races as Stake F1 Team; Audi takes over the team for 2026 | TimesLIVE |
| March 2025 | Stake.uk.com closes after a UK Gambling Commission review of its white-label partner | CasinoBeats |
| 15 Sep 2026 | Stake Engine renamed Engine and opened to other casinos | G3 Newswire |
Most of what's public comes from interviews and sports deals. Easygo is private and doesn't publish accounts, so the 2023 revenue figure in the box is Forbes Australia's number, not one from the company.
Kick, Stake.us and Engine
Kick is the part most viewers know, often without knowing who's behind it. The streaming site went live in late 2022 with money from the two founders and has a gambling category open to streamers. Stake.us covers the US with a sweepstakes model. Engine, Stake Engine until September 2026, is where outside studios publish games for Stake, and since the rename for other casinos too.
In April 2024 Stake.us blocked 7 states. By November 2026 the list had 23, going by archived copies of its own help page, with Indiana, Maine and Oklahoma the latest additions.
Germany and the UK
Germany licenses online casinos through the GGL, and only operators on its whitelist are legal there. We searched the whitelist page in November 2026 (12 Nov). It names Tipico, bet365 and PokerStars, among others. None of Stake, Easygo or Medium Rare is listed. That's why this site has no game links to Stake for visitors from Germany. In the UK, Stake ran through a white-label licence until March 2025 and has had no UK site since.
- "Stake"
- 0 hits
- "Easygo"
- 0 hits
- "Medium Rare"
- 0 hits
- "Tipico" (control)
- 33 hits
- Distinct .de domains on the page
- 172
House games
Stake makes its own casino games, the Originals. The early ones such as Dice, Crash and Mines show an edge of 1%. The ones added since 2025 are, with one exception, at 2%. The full table is on our Stake Originals page.
18+. This page reports facts and does not recommend any casino. Help: Responsible gaming.
Not affiliated with Stake, Easygo, Kick or Engine. Names belong to their owners. We do not link to Stake.
Questions
Who owns Stake?
The two co-founders, Craven and Tehrani, through their Melbourne group Easygo. The stake.com footer names Medium Rare N.V., Curaçao, as owner and operator of the site.
Is Kick owned by Stake?
Kick was launched in late 2022 and is backed by the two Stake co-founders. It runs as a separate company.
When was Stake founded?
Stake launched in 2017. Its parent group Easygo dates from spring 2016, and the founders ran Primedice from 2013.
Is Stake licensed in Germany?
No. Our search of the GGL whitelist in November 2026 found no entry for Stake, Easygo or Medium Rare. Only whitelisted operators are licensed in Germany. This is not legal advice.
Is Stake still the Everton shirt sponsor?
The deal began on 1 July 2022 as a multi-year main partnership. Shirt deals change between seasons, so check the club for the current partner.
Sources
- Forbes Australia: How Stake made Ed Craven a crypto billionaire (9 Jun 2024). Primedice 2013, Easygo spring 2016, Stake 2017, Kick late 2022, Drake 2022, revenue US$2.6bn Checked 12 November 2026
- Stake footer on an archived game page (Wayback, 11 Oct 2026) · current page on stake.com. Medium Rare N.V., registration 145353, Seru Loraweg 17 B, Curaçao Checked 12 November 2026
- Prolific North: Everton FC signs club record shirt deal (Jun 2022) Checked 12 November 2026
- Deccan Herald: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake co-title partnership Checked 12 November 2026
- TimesLIVE: Sauber to race as Stake F1 team for two years (2 Jan 2024) Checked 12 November 2026
- CasinoBeats: Gambling Commission confirms Stake will cease operating in UK (13 Feb 2025) Checked 12 November 2026
- CryptoSlate: Stake.us review. Stake.us launch 2022 Checked 12 November 2026
- G3 Newswire: Stake Engine rebrands as Engine Checked 12 November 2026
- GGL: whitelist of licensed operators. own text search of the page, ggl_whitelist_check.py Checked 12 November 2026
- Stake.us help centre: restricted states (Wayback, 1 Nov 2026). 23 states; earlier copies from 15 Apr 2024 list 7 Checked 12 November 2026
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