Cryptocurrency gambling giant Stake is pushing back against claims that it manipulates slot results to give its biggest stars “statistical miracles” during Kick’s livestreams. This public stance follows an extensive outside review into Kick’s core operations and its most visible creative partnerships.
The relationship between Stake and the livestreaming platform Kick is one of the most successful, yet controversial, partnerships in the digital age. Founded by Australian entrepreneurs Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, Stake has grown into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse by allowing users to wager various cryptocurrencies on everything from sports to digital slot machines. To drive traffic, the platform signs high-profile influencers to multimillion-dollar contracts, where they broadcast their high-stakes gambling sessions to tens of thousands of young fans. This “Stake-to-Kick” pipeline has turned online gambling into a massive entertainment subculture, but it has also led to intense scrutiny regarding the transparency of the wins shown on screen.
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The AI Analysis Behind the “Big Wins”
The controversy reached a boiling point following a Bloomberg Businessweek feature that used Anthropic’s Claude to analyze over 1,500 hours of Kick footage. Researchers focused on “big wins”—payouts that are at least 1,000 times the size of the base bet—and discovered a startling pattern. While an average streamer might hit such a win once every 10,000 spins, the data showed that Drake and Adin Ross were hitting them nearly four times as often when playing games owned by Stake’s parent company, Easygo Entertainment.
Interestingly, this “celebrity luck” seemingly disappeared when the influencers played third-party games. According to the findings, when Drake or Ross played slots developed by independent studios, their win rates aligned perfectly with the statistical average. It was only on internal titles like Puffer Stacks or Hex Appeal where the AI detected win rates that the report described as “far outside the norm.”
Stake has pushed back hard against these findings, calling the investigation “categorically incorrect.” A company spokesperson argued that the “big win” benchmark is an arbitrary way to measure success and stated that the report “ignores how game mathematics works.” Stake claims that comparing win rates across different slots is misleading because each game has unique mechanics and mathematical designs that dictate its payouts. However, despite these public rebuttals, the casino has reportedly declined to provide its own internal payout data to disprove the statistical patterns identified by the AI analysis.
Balance the critic averages
Balance the critic averages
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The report detailed a specific livestream from August 2025 where Drake’s Bitcoin balance reportedly sank from a staggering $3.5 million down to just $422,000. According to the analysis, Craven eventually joined the broadcast, deposited $500,000 into the rapper’s account, and advised him to switch to specific games like Puffer Stacks and Rooster Returns. Within the next hour, Drake reportedly landed four massive jackpots on these specific Easygo-owned titles, clawing his balance back up to $2.2 million. The report noted that while Drake’s luck was extraordinary on these internal games, his win rates on third-party titles—those operated by independent developers—remained entirely average.
Ross was also a central figure in the investigation. During a marathon “Fat Camp” stream on Stake’s U.S. sweepstakes site, Ross was reportedly prompted by Craven in the chat to play Hex Appeal. Almost immediately after navigating to the title, Ross hit a 10,000x multiplier win. Bloomberg highlighted that a win of this magnitude statistically occurs only once every 170,000 spins, yet Ross achieved it in just 2,000 spins while playing a game owned by Stake’s parent company. Like Drake, Ross’s performance on non-Easygo games did not show any statistical anomalies.
Stake doesn’t just rely on the streamers themselves to grow its brand; the company reportedly employs a massive “clipping army” to ensure these high-energy wins reach a global audience. According to insiders, these third-party creators are paid anywhere from $500 to $800 for every million views their social media clips generate. This strategy effectively turns every “big win” into a viral advertisement that can bypass traditional gambling ad restrictions on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, often reaching younger viewers who might not otherwise see casino content.
To navigate strict bans in regions like the United States, Stake operates a sweepstakes version of its site. Instead of direct Bitcoin wagers, users play with Stake Cash, a virtual currency that can eventually be converted back into cryptocurrency. However, recent legal complaints from officials in California and Missouri allege this model is a “rogue racket” designed to exploit cognitive biases and hook vulnerable players.
The legitimacy of the massive balances shown on stream is another major point of contention within the community. Other top Kick personalities, such as Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam, have previously admitted that some influencers utilize “fill deals.” In these arrangements, the casino provides the gambling funds directly, and the streamers are often restricted from withdrawing their full winnings. This creates a fantasy world of infinite money that critics argue is essentially aspirational advertising designed to lure in “degens”—a subculture of players who often find pride in high-stakes losing.
This statistical scrutiny comes as Stake faces significant legal challenges in the United States. At least 11 class-action lawsuits have been filed, alleging that the platform’s marketing is deceptive. These suits argue that by showcasing extremely rare outcomes as regular occurrences, Stake and its influencers are exploiting “cognitive biases” and misleading the public about the true risks of gambling.
Beyond the gambling allegations, Kick is also under pressure for its broader content. French prosecutors are moving forward with investigations into the platform following a tragic incident involving a torture broadcast. With arrest warrants being sought for executives and influencers facing criminal charges, the future of the platform’s unregulated wild west era remains in question.
