Stake sponsorship case: Everton, UFC, F1 and Kick
What Stake paid for in sport and music, how Kick put casino streamers inside the same group, and where UK and US regulators pushed back.
Stake sponsorship money bought four seasons on Everton's shirt front, a UFC betting partnership announced in 2021 and two seasons naming Sauber's F1 team. Kick, the streaming site led by Stake co-founder Ed Craven, grew its watch time about 125% in 2025, according to Streams Charts, but no public figure ties that growth to the sponsorships.
Results at a glance
| Metric | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Everton front-of-shirt | 2022/23 to 2025/26 seasons | About £10m a season, reported by UK trade press, not independently verified. Sleeve partner from 2026/27, announced 1 July 2026 |
| UFC | Partnership announced March 2021 | Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Asia first; Brazil added February 2022; last extension reported February 2024. Value not published |
| Formula 1 | Team naming rights, 2024 and 2025 | Team raced as "Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber"; Kick held the chassis naming. Ended with the 2025 season |
| Kick watch time | About +125% year on year in 2025 | Streams Charts, February 2026. More than 4% of global livestreaming hours. Measures Kick, not the sponsorships |
| Biggest creator deal | About $70m over two years, up to about $100m with incentives | xQc's non-exclusive Kick deal, reported by The New York Times in June 2023, not independently verified |
| Revenue, profit, ROI | Not published | No audited Stake revenue was found in public filings or company statements |
Context
Stake is a crypto-first online casino and sportsbook. Its sponsorships ran mostly in markets and channels where direct gambling advertising is restricted, which brings licensing exposure. In Great Britain, Stake.uk.com ran under a white-label licence held by TGP Europe until March 2025, and the Gambling Commission described Stake as an unlicensed sponsor of Everton once that licence ended. For how offshore and onshore licences differ, see our guide to online gambling licenses.
The other part of the picture is Kick. Its chief executive, Ed Craven, co-founded Stake, so the casino brand and the streaming platform sit in the same corporate group.
What they did
Combat sports: UFC
In March 2021 the UFC named Stake.com its first official betting partner in Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Asia, a new sponsorship category for the promotion. Brazil was added in February 2022. In February 2024 trade press reported an Asia extension with co-branded fighter content. No fee was disclosed, and we found no later announcement.
Football: the Everton deal
The Everton Stake sponsorship was announced on 9 June 2022, with Stake.com replacing Cazoo as front-of-shirt partner from the 2022/23 season. The club called it the most valuable front-of-shirt deal in its history. UK trade press put it at about £10m a season.
On 1 July 2026 Everton named CMC Markets as main partner and moved Stake to the sleeve under a multi-year deal, with its branding kept at the stadium and training ground. The move followed the front-of-shirt gambling sponsor ban from 2026/27, a rule Premier League clubs agreed in 2023, not a law.
Motorsport: Stake F1 sponsorship
For 2024 and 2025 Stake held the naming rights to the Sauber team, which raced as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, while Kick took the chassis naming. In 2023, when Stake was already on the car, local gambling laws kept its name off the livery at four races (Australia, Spain, Belgium and Qatar), and Kick's branding appeared there instead, according to BlackBook Motorsport. The arrangement ended with the 2025 season, when the team became Audi's works entry.
Entertainment: Drake
By March 2023 Drake was a Stake ambassador. The Financial Times reported then, citing people familiar with the terms, that the deal was worth about $100m a year; neither side confirmed it. He streamed gambling sessions, including on Kick with Adin Ross. We found no public confirmation of the deal's current status.
Kick and casino streamers
Kick launched in late 2022, advertising a 95/5 subscription split in creators' favour, per press coverage, and gambling streamers on Kick became one of its most visible categories. In June 2023 The New York Times reported, citing his agent, that xQc had signed a two-year, non-exclusive Kick deal worth about $70m, rising to about $100m with incentives.
Because Kick is led by a Stake co-founder, casino streamers on Kick work inside the same corporate group as the casino brand. No public data shows how much Stake traffic comes from Kick. For the general mechanics of creator-led affiliate traffic and disclosure, see our piece on YouTube affiliate marketing.
Stake.us
In the US the group runs a separate site, Stake.us, under a sweepstakes model: play with a free virtual currency alongside a second currency that can be redeemed for prizes, positioned outside state casino licensing. We explain the model in sweepstakes vs social casinos.
Results: what the Stake sponsorship deals show
The measurable figures sit with Kick, not the casino. Streams Charts reported about 2.1bn hours watched in Kick's second year, from December 2023 to late 2024. In the second quarter of 2025 Kick passed 1bn hours watched in a single quarter for the first time. Over 2025 its total watch time rose about 125%, giving it more than 4% of global livestreaming hours, while Twitch finished the year roughly 10% down. The same report noted that the fourth quarter of 2025 was the first quarter in Kick's history to show a decline.
These are platform numbers, not sponsorship results. Stake has not published audited revenue, and no public figure links any of these deals to deposits or player numbers, so any ROI quoted online is an estimate, not a disclosure.
What did not work
On 12 February 2025 the Gambling Commission said Stake.uk.com would no longer be a licensed website, after an investigation into a widely shared social media video showing the Stake logo. TGP Europe, which ran the GB site on a white-label basis and had previously been the subject of enforcement action, told the Commission it would stop taking new registrations and remove links from the main Stake site, with final shutdown by 11 March 2025.
The same notice made the sponsorship a liability for the club. The Commission wrote to Everton and two other clubs with unlicensed sponsors and asked them to show that people in Great Britain could not reach the sponsors' sites, VPN users included. It also noted that club officers could face prosecution.
In the US, Stake.us has been the subject of state legal action; our sweepstakes casino bans case tracks the wider wave against sweepstakes operators. On 19 August 2026 Florida's attorney general sued the operator of Stake.us in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, alleging illegal online gambling and violations of the state's deceptive trade practices law, as reported by Legal Sports Report and News4Jax. We found no ruling in coverage up to the time of writing.
There is also an audience-trust cost. People searching for "fake casino streamers" are asking a fair question: whose money is on screen? Sponsorship terms are rarely public, so viewers usually cannot tell a streamer's own bankroll from a sponsor's.
Takeaways for affiliates
Sponsorship buys reach where paid ads are closed, but the sponsor's licence status follows everyone next to its name. Check a brand's licence in each market before you promote it.
Common ownership of a streaming platform and a casino gives a brand a channel it does not have to rent, but no public data shows what that channel is worth. Treat claims about it as estimates.
Keep a fallback brand for restricted markets. In 2023 Stake used Kick branding on its F1 car at four races where its own name could not appear; affiliates can apply the idea by running a compliant offer for each GEO.
Do not build a business on one brand's creator program. The UK exit in 2025 closed a market within a month of the announcement.
Judge creator traffic by depositing players, not views.
Disclose paid promotion clearly. Regulators and viewers both treat undisclosed play as a red flag.
FAQ
How does Stake sponsorship work?
Stake pays for placement and partner status: Everton's shirt and later its sleeve, UFC partnerships in Latin America and Asia, F1 team naming rights in 2024 and 2025, and celebrity deals such as Drake's. Fees are mostly unpublished.
How do casino streamers make money?
Mostly from sponsor deals, affiliate revenue share from players they refer, and platform income such as subscriptions and tips. Kick advertised a 95/5 subscription split. Individual earnings are rarely published; the xQc figure is a rare reported example. Trackers such as Twitchmetrics rank casino streamers by audience, not income.
Can you get a Stake sponsorship?
Stake runs a public partner program and Kick runs its own creator program, but neither publishes criteria for larger sponsorship deals. Any promotion must follow local advertising and disclosure rules.
Is Stake legal in the US or UK?
As of October 2026, the group operates Stake.us in the US as a sweepstakes site, which is the subject of a Florida attorney general lawsuit filed in August 2026. In Great Britain, the licensed Stake site closed in March 2025. Status changes by state and country, so check our US legality guide. This is a summary of public sources, not legal advice.
Sources
Financial Times (Drake) and New York Times (xQc, Kick split) figures are cited via secondary coverage.
