Leaked Files Show Curaçao Licensed Stake Operator With Ownership Unresolved
Leaked Curaçao Gaming Authority records reveal Stake's operator got a licence in 2025 despite unresolved questions over who truly owns the company.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited by the ON360 newsroom.
Leaked records from the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) show that the company behind crypto casino giant Stake was granted a gambling licence in mid-2025 even though regulators had not confirmed who actually owned it. The documents, obtained by Berlin-based researcher Lilith Wittmann and shared with Follow the Money and other outlets, form the basis of an investigation published on September 22 under the name Casino Secrets.
Stake is one of the best-known names in online crypto gambling. Rapper Drake has served as its public face, helping the platform grow into a multibillion-dollar operation.
Ownership questions predate the licence
According to the leaked licensing timeline, Medium Rare N.V., the Curaçao-registered operator tied to Stake, received a conditional licence on June 9, 2025. An internal CGA report named Mladen Vuckovic as Medium Rare’s sole ultimate beneficial owner and chief executive.
Yet the same report acknowledged that Stake founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani were widely known publicly in that role. The document stated plainly: “There has been no specific disclosure of either individual in this application.”
Later in the review, CGA staff went further. “What is unclear is the applicant’s true beneficial ownership and its connections and business/contractual arrangements with EC, BT, Easygo, Primedice, Sweepsteaks and Well Done STK,” the report said, using initials for Craven and Tehrani.
Despite that uncertainty, reviewers concluded a licence could still be granted, subject to conditions.
Five weeks to explain the relationships
Under those conditions, Medium Rare had five weeks from the licence date to clarify its ownership structure and its contractual ties to Craven, Tehrani, Easygo, Primedice, Sweepsteaks, Mebit d.o.o. and Well Done STK. The company also had to explain the agreements governing its use of the Stake brand, the Stake.com domain and related subdomains.
Follow the Money reported that Curaçao officials had separately questioned whether Vuckovic was really the sole owner, after identifying loans and payments connecting companies and individuals linked to Craven and Tehrani. It remains unconfirmed whether Medium Rare met the five-week deadline; the reviewed records do not show a resolution.
Regulator defends a staged approach
The CGA has not disputed the central finding that it licensed companies before fully resolving ownership questions. In a statement to Follow the Money, the regulator said it decided, under the finance minister’s authority, “not to implement all requirements at once, but to give companies the opportunity to comply with them step by step.”
It added that it would not “immediately refuse a licence or terminate existing activities whenever there is a question or uncertainty.”
In a September 22 press release responding to the leak, the CGA said it had “followed robust internal procedures in performing due diligence of its applicants.” It also warned against drawing conclusions from individual leaked documents viewed outside the context of a complete application file.
Curaçao has long served as a low-barrier licensing hub for online casinos, including many crypto-focused platforms that operate outside stricter regimes such as Ontario’s regulated iGaming market. Players in Ontario using licensed operators still have access to mandated tools including deposit limits and self-exclusion through iGaming Ontario, protections that are not guaranteed on offshore sites.
For now, the leaked files leave one question open: whether Medium Rare ever fully answered the ownership questions the CGA flagged before signing off on the licence.