Stake sportsbook: 4.60% margin, Same Game Multi and Stake Shield
7.2/10
Rating
from the equivalent of $0.10
Min. bet
a few minutes in the standard scenario
Payout speed
⚠ Legal warning. Stake Sportsbook does not hold a Ukrainian bookmaker license from KRAIL (Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries) or PlayCity. PlayCity specifically warns that a foreign license, a domain outside the .ua zone and the option of a crypto deposit are typical signs of an operator that is illegal on the Ukrainian market. This page is published as an analysis of the product and its risks.
Affiliate disclosure: the links on this page are affiliate links. The operator is assessed under a separate methodology for unlicensed platforms and is not part of our rating of legal bookmakers.
Stake Sportsbook is the sports arm of the Medium Rare N.V. platform, launched in 2017. A single account combines a sportsbook, esports, a casino and poker.
The JoyFactory team analyzed the line, margins, Same Game Multi, Stake Shield, Cashout, VIP, the bonus model, KYC and payouts. The brand’s casino section was assessed separately: see our Stake casino review.
| Operator | Medium Rare N.V., company No. 145353 |
|---|---|
| License | Curaçao Gaming Authority OGL/2024/1451/0918, status Active |
| Ukrainian license | None |
| Line | 35 sports, 149 leagues, 1015 events |
| Average margin | 4.60% across five control events |
| Hryvnia | Not supported |
| JoyFactory rating | 7.2 / 10 |
| Review date | August 7, 2026 |
Stake does not build its line on the principle of «show everything»: its strengths are pricing on liquid markets and the features built around the bet.
The review was carried out by Dmytro Kolesnikov, and the license and rules were verified by Valeriia Prykhodko. We did not create an account or place any bets: the line was assessed using a standardized independent snapshot, and the margin was recalculated mathematically.
| Sports / leagues / events | 35 / 149 / 1015 |
|---|---|
| Football | 92 leagues (61.7%) and 582 events (57.3%) |
| Pre-match markets on 5 events | 4062, of which 3206 are football |
| Football share of markets | 78.9% |
This is the product’s defining characteristic. Almost four-fifths of the market depth comes from football, leaving 21.1% for the other four sports combined. For a top-football bettor this is not a drawback; for someone who works with small-league statistics, it is a significant one.
We also want to correct a widely quoted figure: several reviews claim that Stake scores only 52% of the market benchmark, 2739 markets versus 5231. This is a misreading of the methodology: both numbers are given as an example of normalization, not as an actual sample. The real result is 4062 markets and a depth score of 81.2 out of 100.
Official materials mention more than 70 sports, esports and racing categories. The independent test, which counted traditional sports, recorded 35 sports and 149 leagues.
The Premier League, the Champions League, the NBA, the NFL, the tennis Grand Slams, MMA and F1 are confirmed. After football, the sports with the most leagues are ice hockey with 16 and basketball with 13. Esports is a separate strong area: CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends and Valorant with map-by-map markets and player props.
Depth is unevenly distributed:
The overall Market Depth score of 81.2 out of 100 is high, but it is almost entirely driven by the football section.
Odds are Stake’s main advantage. The average margin in the standardized test is 4.60%; on top football leagues the benchmark is 3–4%, on basketball and tennis 3–6%.
On symmetrical markets the effect of the price is easy to see: at 1.92 the margin is 4.17%, at 1.90 it is 5.26%, at 1.86 it is 7.53%. In other words, moving from 1.92 to 1.86 increases the margin by roughly 80.6%.
At legal Ukrainian bookmakers the figure for top football stays within 2.6–6.7%, so Stake’s 4.60% is competitive with the best of them, which is rare for the offshore segment.
Same Game Multi is a Bet Builder: several outcomes of one match are combined into a slip with combined odds. There is a rule here that is easy to miss: if a leg of a regular multi becomes void, it is recalculated at odds of 1.00, but a void leg inside an SGM can cancel the entire slip. Cashout is not available for SGM.
Stake Shield lets an accumulator of three or more legs lose some of its selections and still return a fixed payout: a five-leg slip normally wins only at 5/5, while Shield lets it pay at 4/5, but the odds are reduced in advance. Restrictions: not available for live, SGM, player props, outrights, racing or Cashout.
Free streams of selected events open once you log in to your account, with no separate subscription needed, which is rare for the segment. If video is not available, live visualization and statistics work instead; stream availability depends on the country and the tournament rights.
Cashout works for selected pre-match and live singles and multis: a slip can be closed early for its current value. The feature disappears if:
The operator may also remove Cashout for a user who systematically exploits data delays for guaranteed profit.
Stake has no single global welcome deposit bonus. The basic offer works through an affiliate code: entered within 24 hours of registration, it unlocks early access to rakeback, which is otherwise available only from the Bronze level.
Rakeback is 3.5% of the operator’s mathematical edge, not of the amount wagered. On a $10,000 turnover at a 3% margin the return is $10.50, at 4.60% it is $16.10 and at 8% it is $28. A higher rakeback at a higher margin does not make a bet better value: the expected value worsens faster than the return grows.
| Bronze | $3,333 instead of $10,000 of casino progress |
|---|---|
| Silver | $16,667 |
| Platinum I | $83,333 |
Sports bets count towards VIP progress three times faster than casino turnover. Rewards include rakeback, weekly and monthly bonuses, reload payouts and a personal manager at higher levels. Sports promotions change during the season: early payout when a team goes a set margin ahead, refunds on a narrow defeat, odds boosts and accumulator insurance.
The hryvnia is not on the official list of local currencies. The platform supports more than 30 fiat currencies, so it cannot be called a purely crypto platform, but for a Ukrainian profile the scenario is crypto-based.
Before a payout, the deposit must be wagered 100%. An important detail: a sports bet counts towards turnover only after settlement, that is, after the slip is settled rather than immediately after it is placed.
There is no maximum crypto withdrawal limit, but minimum payouts are poor value: the fixed fee eats up 62.7% of the minimum in BTC, 40% in USDT and only 0.94% in TRX. On a 100 USDT payout the same fee is already just 1%.
KYC is risk-based: the operator may ask for a passport, proof of address, a liveness check, a bank statement, the source of funds and proof of wallet ownership, and may restrict payouts until the check is complete. The claim that betting on Stake is fully anonymous is incorrect.
The main mobile format is a responsive website and PWA: no separate native client is needed, and the web app is added to the home screen through the browser. Do not install third-party Stake APKs.
Support is available by e-mail and live chat after logging in. An independent assessment rated the chat «excellent», and the first connection is practically instant, but first-line agents do not approve KYC or unblock accounts. Ukrainian is not listed among the global localizations, so disputes will have to be handled in another language.
Self-limitation tools exist: deposit limits, loss and wager limits, cooling-off and self-exclusion. Lowering a limit takes effect immediately, raising it after 24 hours. The platform is not integrated with the Ukrainian Register of persons restricted from gambling.
The platform’s safety index is 7.9 out of 10, its terms are rated as fair, and no problematic clauses were found in the rules. This is rare: most operators in this section do have such clauses.
The aggregated set contains 391 complaints: 58 resolved, 319 rejected, two unresolved and 12 open. Because of the platform’s scale the absolute number is high, but the ratio to its size is rated as good. Typical sportsbook scenarios are disputed settlement of a live bet, account restrictions, KYC delays and lower personal limits after big wins.
An open review platform shows 3.9 out of 5 across more than 17,000 reviews: 66% five-star against 21% one-star.
The best margin in this section and the strongest slip features, but no hryvnia.
The score is supported by the 4.60% margin, the football markets, Same Game Multi, Stake Shield and the absence of a maximum crypto withdrawal limit. It is pulled down by the lack of a PlayCity license, the hryvnia and Ukrainian localization, the compact coverage of some sports and the risk of manual KYC.
The approach is described in the JoyFactory methodology. The safety score is the same as in the brand’s casino review, since the operator and the license are shared.
You can see who worked on this review on our editorial team page.
No. Medium Rare N.V. does not hold a Ukrainian bookmaker license, and a Curaçao license does not replace a local permit.
In an independent standardized test, 4.60% across five control events. On top football leagues the benchmark is 3–4%, on basketball and tennis 3–6%.
No. The platform supports more than 30 local fiat currencies, but UAH is not among them, so for a Ukrainian profile the main scenario is crypto.
Protection for accumulators of three or more legs: the slip returns a fixed payout even with a certain number of losing selections, but the odds are reduced in advance. It does not work with live, Same Game Multi, player props or Cashout.
In a regular multi such a leg is recalculated at odds of 1.00, but inside an SGM it can cancel the entire slip. Cashout is not available for Same Game Multi.
There is no single global deposit bonus. The basic offer gives early access to rakeback after entering an affiliate code within 24 hours of registration.
12.10.2026 — scheduled update: content refresh and fact-checking.
09.10.2026 — scheduled update: content refreshed and data fact-checked.
07.08.2026 — first publication of the review. Dmytro Kolesnikov assessed the line structure using a standardized snapshot, refuted the widely quoted figure of 52% of the market benchmark, recalculated the margin and checked the rules for Same Game Multi, Stake Shield and Cashout as well as the VIP math; Valeriia Prykhodko verified the CGA certificate of Medium Rare N.V. and confirmed that the hryvnia is missing from the list of currencies. The next check is in one month.
