Whose side are you on?
First up this week, Stake has found itself in an unusual World Cup row after rival bookmaker Entain accused the crypto gambling giant of putting Curaçao ahead of Australia.
The Herald Sun reports that the flashpoint is Stake’s decision to operate under a licence from the Caribbean island, which has become synonymous with online gambling thanks to its relatively light-touch regulation and low licensing costs.
Entain’s general counsel Simon Zinger used Curaçao’s surprise appearance at this year’s World Cup as an opportunity to question Stake’s regulatory home, arguing the island’s status as a gambling hub should prompt greater scrutiny of operators licensed there.
He suggested the tournament had exposed a bigger question about where Stake’s allegiances really lie, claiming the company was effectively backing Curaçao over its home country.
Stake, however, wasn’t having any of it. In a statement that mixed corporate messaging with a healthy dose of sporting banter, the company pointed out that its technology business, Easygo, employs more than 800 people in Australia and pays Australian taxes.
As for supporting Curaçao? Absolutely, it said – because who doesn’t love an underdog making the World Cup? That, it added, doesn’t stop it cheering on the Socceroos as well, while taking a cheeky swipe at Zinger’s Canadian roots and Gibraltar base.
The article also revisits several of Stake’s recent controversies, including its now-ended Everton shirt sponsorship, its withdrawal from the UK market following criticism of marketing featuring adult entertainer Bonnie Blue, and a lawsuit from a Swedish customer alleging he lost $1.5m after receiving gambling inducements.
Taken together, the piece paints a picture of one of gambling’s fastest-growing brands continuing to attract attention both for its meteoric commercial success and for the regulatory questions that seem to follow wherever it goes.
Event of the century
Meanwhile, the football may only just be getting going, but bookmakers are already celebrating a tournament that’s shaping up to become the biggest betting event in history.
According to Reuters, the expanded 48-team World Cup is generating record engagement across regulated markets, with operators reporting eye-catching increases in customers, wagers and activity compared with Qatar 2022.
Flutter expects total staking to be at least double that of the previous tournament, helped by the larger format and the United States hosting matches in one of its biggest markets.
The company believes it could be processing around 100,000 bets every minute during peak moments, while analysts at Macquarie forecast global World Cup betting turnover could exceed $50bn, comfortably surpassing the estimated $35bn wagered four years ago.
The United States has emerged as one of the biggest growth engines thanks to rapid gambling regulation since 2022.
FanDuel and DraftKings both reported that opening fixtures involving the US and Brazil became the biggest football betting events in their respective histories, with DraftKings recording five times the betting handle seen at the same stage of the last World Cup.
Operators elsewhere are also enjoying bumper interest. William Hill says England’s victory over Croatia has been its biggest betting event of the tournament so far, while bet365 has already paid out £30m through promotional offers linked to substituted players.
Entain says engagement has been strong too, although unpredictable results have created something of a rollercoaster for trading teams.
Despite all the excitement, analysts caution that the tournament’s real commercial value won’t simply be measured by bets placed over the next few weeks.
The bigger prize is persuading millions of first-time customers to stick around once the World Cup circus packs up and domestic sport returns.
Trip down memory lane
Finally, The Times took us on an interesting trip down memory lane. After spending 55 years dealing blackjack at Caesars Palace, Benny Figgins has accumulated enough casino stories to fill several decks of cards.
Speaking to The Times, the 82-year-old looks back on a career that stretched from Las Vegas’s golden era to the age of eye-watering $75,000 hands.
Figgins rubbed shoulders with some of entertainment’s biggest names, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Diana Ross and Harry Belafonte. While he insists everyone was treated equally at his table, he admits some customers inevitably stood out.
Sinatra played for two hours, Belafonte enjoyed chatting while he gambled, and countless high rollers came and went over the decades.
Not every memory is glamorous, though. Figgins recalls watching players lose fortunes and sometimes quietly encouraging them to call it a day when luck deserted them. Some listened; plenty didn’t.
Big wins occasionally produced equally impressive tips, with his personal best reaching $3,000 before being shared among fellow dealers.
His story also reflects the social changes that transformed Las Vegas. When he first joined Caesars Palace on its opening in the late 1960s, Black employees were largely restricted to jobs such as porters and cleaners.
It wasn’t until 1971 that Black dealers were allowed onto the casino floor, a milestone Figgins remembers with obvious pride after dealing his first hand.
By the time he retired in 2022, he was the last remaining employee who had worked at Caesars Palace from opening day. The casino marked the occasion with a plaque and even presented him with crystals taken from the original casino dome chandelier.
For all the celebrity encounters and casino drama, however, Figgins says the greatest jackpot of his career wasn’t financial at all.
It was meeting his future wife, Shirley, who worked in the building, and with whom he has now shared nearly five decades of marriage.
