NY Suit: Stake Enabled Underage Gambling, Names Coinbase

A complaint filed in New York Supreme Court by a plaintiff identified as “John Doe” alleges that Stake’s global crypto casino and its U.S.-facing sweepstakes site, Stake.us, enabled underage gambling and that Coinbase supplied the crypto payment infrastructure used to facilitate repeated wagers.

The filing says the plaintiff was recruited to gamble while a minor and was then “routed to a U.S.-facing crypto onramp,” allowing the activity to continue over time. The complaint states those interactions produced “years of financial losses and a severe addiction-related injury, all incurred before Plaintiff was legally allowed to gamble.”

Defendants named in the suit include Stake.com, Stake.us, Easygo Entertainment and founders Bijan Tehrani and Edward Craven. The complaint describes the entities as operating together, alleging a “complete unity of ownership and interest” and that the defendants “collectively operated as an integrated machine that facilitated repeated offshore gambling activity.”

The filing also names Coinbase as a defendant and alleges the exchange “knowingly supplied routing and payment infrastructure that made such wagering possible.” The complaint further asserts Coinbase provided “the compliance evasion mechanism necessary… to bypass New York State anti-gambling restrictions” and helped “facilitate the conversion and transfer of funds used for illegal gambling by a minor.”

On April 14, New York Supreme Court Justice Dakota Ramseur issued an Order to Show Cause and set a May 19 hearing for the plaintiff to justify emergency or preliminary relief sought in the complaint. The hearing will decide whether the court grants the interim remedies as the case proceeds.

The complaint says Stake’s offshore platform remained accessible to U.S. users through Stake.us and that alleged routing processes and crypto onramps allowed minors to deposit funds and place wagers instead of using traditional banking channels that face stricter anti-gambling controls.

The New York suit references related litigation in multiple states, including Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia and Ohio. It cites a 2025 enforcement action by the Los Angeles City Attorney that alleged Stake.us operated as an illegal gambling enterprise and sought to recover resident losses. Baltimore has filed a civil suit naming Stake and five other sweepstakes operators.

Prior litigation against sweepstakes-style casinos has produced mixed results, with some cases dismissed or sent to arbitration. The complaint asks the court for remedies against the named entities and for relief addressing the alleged unlawful operation and the role of crypto infrastructure; the court will consider those requests at the May 19 hearing.