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Stake Curaçao Leak: What the Licensing Records Show

Published licensing files raise ownership questions around Stake. The current certificate is Active, while historical follow-up remains unclear.

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The Stake Curaçao leak has exposed historical questions about the ownership behind the casino’s licensed operator, Medium Rare N.V. Its live regulatory certificate displayed “Active” when checked on September 25, 2026, while the public material reviewed does not establish how a five-week ownership clarification requirement was resolved.

Editorial illustration of the Stake logo beside a Curaçao Gaming Authority document.

KEY FACTS AT A GLANCE

  • Operator: Medium Rare N.V., named on Stake’s Curaçao license certificate.
  • Historical request: Published assessment documents sought clarification of ownership, business relationships and control of the Stake brand and domains.
  • Current certificate: “Active,” checked September 25, 2026.
  • Dated register: “Assessment in progress,” in the CGA’s September 21 snapshot.
  • Unanswered question: The reviewed material does not establish what response the operator supplied or how the ownership condition was closed.

What the Casino Secrets investigation covers

Casino Secrets is an investigation into material obtained from the Curaçao Gaming Authority’s online gaming portal. The regulator confirmed unauthorized access on September 17. Its follow-up statement, dated September 22, said access had occurred between December 2025 and September 2026 through a customer portal account created under a false identity. The full volume of material accessed remained unverified.

Follow the Money published its investigation on September 22. Its analysis was limited to data acquired in December 2025, before the outlet was contacted. The public Curaçao Files archive says its material extends through August 2026. Those different cutoffs matter: an older assessment can document a question raised at the time without showing the final answer.

This article compares the published Medium Rare assessment documents and archive timeline with the regulator’s public certificate and register. The historical copies have not been independently authenticated against the CGA’s originals, and the public archive warns that its information may be incomplete or outdated. They must be read with those limits.

The Medium Rare ownership questions

Follow the Money reported that the application identified Mladen Vuckovic as Medium Rare’s sole declared owner and chief executive, while Stake’s publicly known founders, Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, were not disclosed as owners. A declared owner is the person named in a filing; beneficial ownership concerns who ultimately owns or controls the business. The published assessment raised questions about that distinction.

The document titled Final Report 352: Medium Rare N.V. recommends a license subject to conditions. It seeks clarification of the ownership structure and relationships involving the founders and connected businesses. Its proposed timing is “Within 5 weeks of license grant.” That wording supports a narrow finding: the assessment contemplated granting a license with clarification still required afterward.

A separate License Conditions Matrix asks for details of connections and contractual or business arrangements involving Craven, Tehrani, Easygo, Primedice, Sweepsteaks, Mebit d.o.o. and Well Done STK. It also seeks clarification of arrangements concerning the Stake brand, Stake.com and related domains. These questions concern how the licensed company connects to the wider business.

The matrix gives its deadline as “Five weeks after the date of this letter.” The two documents therefore describe their timing differently. The reviewed material does not include an inspected issuance letter establishing the precise deadline, or a response demonstrating whether the requested clarification satisfied the regulator. Naming someone in a clarification request does not establish concealed ownership or misconduct.

Stake’s licensing records and the leak: a timeline
Selected record dates in chronological order. Spacing does not represent elapsed time.
  1. Official regulatory recordLOK takes effect

    Curaçao’s new gambling law takes effect during the licensing transition.

  2. Official certificate · Archive entryLicense grant date

    The current certificate gives this grant date. The archive labels the issuance conditional; published assessment records set out ownership questions.

  3. Archive entryAnother conditional issuance listed

    The timeline lists a later conditional issuance without the decision’s reasoning.

  4. Archive entryFurther conditional issuance listed

    A further timeline entry appears, again without evidence explaining the ownership follow-up.

  5. Official CGA statementUnauthorized access confirmed

    The regulator says access was contained and a forensic investigation was underway.

  6. Official dated register“Assessment in progress”

    The register carries this status for Medium Rare N.V.

  7. Published investigation · Official CGA statementInvestigation and regulator follow-up

    Follow the Money publishes its investigation. The CGA’s follow-up statement is dated the same day.

  8. Official live certificate · Date checkedCertificate displays “Active”

    Stake’s certificate is checked and displays Active. This is an observation date, not a recorded status-change date.

The January and April entries do not establish how the historical ownership condition was resolved. The dated register and live certificate show different status labels.

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The archive labels entries on June 9, 2025, January 7, 2026, and April 13, 2026, as conditional license issuances. Those later entries extend the chronology, but the labels alone provide no decision reasoning or ownership response. They cannot establish whether this particular condition remained outstanding or had been satisfied.

Stake’s Curaçao license: two official records

The CGA’s live certificate for stake.com names Medium Rare N.V., company number 145353, and license OGL/2024/1451/0918. It shows a grant date of June 9, 2025, and displayed “Active” when checked on September 25, 2026. That is the current certificate observation used here; September 25 is not a claimed date of activation.

The authority’s license register, last updated September 21, lists the same company and license under “Assessment in progress.” Its row gives December 9, 2025, as the issuance date and June 9, 2026, as the expiry date. The register uses an explicit “Expired” label elsewhere, so its date field alone should not be converted into a finding that Stake is currently unlicensed.

The CGA warns that its register overviews do not guarantee current validity. A general announcement from December 23, 2025, also described operators whose provisional licenses were approaching expiry while assessments continued, saying their status would remain unchanged until a final decision was communicated. That announcement does not name Medium Rare and cannot establish the explanation for its specific records.

What each Stake record establishes
Evidence reviewed through September 25, 2026. Each record answers a different question; none supplies the complete ownership follow-up.
Record What it establishes What it does not establish
Final ReportPublished historical copy Assessors raised ownership questions and proposed conditional approval. Conclusive ultimate control of the business.
Conditions MatrixPublished historical copy Specified relationships and brand and domain arrangements required clarification. Whether a response was supplied or the condition was satisfied.
Later timeline entriesArchive presentation The archive lists conditional issuance in January and April 2026. The reasoning or ownership follow-up behind those entries.
Live certificateOfficial current observation The displayed status was “Active” when checked September 25, 2026. How each historical ownership condition was resolved.
September registerOfficial dated snapshot The September 21, 2026 register says “Assessment in progress.” Revocation or present invalidity of the license.
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The two official labels should therefore be reported with their dates and limitations. The certificate records the current displayed status; the register preserves a dated assessment status. Neither supplies the correspondence needed to reconstruct how each historical condition was handled. Dyutam’s guide to checking whether an online casino is licensed explains how to match the operator, domain and regulator record.

A Curaçao certificate also cannot establish authorization in every market where a website can be reached. Jurisdiction-specific actions need their own evidence, as covered separately in the Stake Nigeria regulatory action and Stake’s blocked access in Ireland.

The CGA’s response and the missing follow-up

The CGA has defended its licensing process. In its September 22 statement, the authority said it had “followed robust internal procedures in performing due diligence of its applicants.” It argued that isolated documents cannot explain an application without the complete file and its context.

The licensing transition also matters. The CGA dates the entry into force of Curaçao’s National Ordinance on Games of Chance, known as LOK, to December 24, 2024, following earlier reforms. The existence of a condition during that transition is not enough, by itself, to establish that a licensing decision was unlawful. The operator-specific assessment and the governing requirements would have to be considered together.

The remaining documentary gap is concrete: the issued conditions letter, Medium Rare’s response, any follow-up questions and the regulator’s decision on that response. Those records would help establish what explanation was provided, when it arrived and whether it was accepted. Later issuance labels and the active certificate do not supply that history.

The public record supports reporting that ownership and related-business questions were raised and clarification was required. It does not support a definitive claim that the request went unanswered, that the declared owner concealed the true controller, or that the current certificate resolves every historical question. The distinction is central to understanding what the Stake files establish.

FAQs

What is Casino Secrets?

Casino Secrets is an investigation based on material obtained from the Curaçao regulator’s online gaming portal. The published records cover licensing applications and regulatory assessments.

What do the leaked files say about Stake?

Published Medium Rare assessment documents raise ownership questions and request clarification of business relationships, branding and domain arrangements. They do not establish how that follow-up was resolved.

Does the listed owner establish who ultimately controls Stake?

A declared owner identifies the person named in a filing. The historical assessment sought further clarification of ultimate ownership and relationships; the reviewed material does not conclusively resolve control.

Is Stake’s Curaçao license currently active?

The CGA’s live certificate displayed “Active” when checked on September 25, 2026. That dated observation does not establish authorization in other jurisdictions or explain every historical licensing condition.

Was the five-week clarification request answered?

The public material reviewed does not establish whether the request was answered or accepted. An operator response and the regulator’s assessment would be needed to resolve that question.

Why does the register say “Assessment in progress”?

The September 21 register and the live certificate show different labels. The reviewed sources do not provide an operator-specific explanation; the CGA warns that register overviews do not guarantee current validity.

Were Stake customer accounts breached?

The CGA confirmed unauthorized access to its licensing portal. The evidence reviewed for this article does not establish a breach of Stake customer accounts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The ownership request is documented — published historical copies seek clarification of Medium Rare’s relationships and control arrangements.
  • The official records show different labels — the certificate displayed “Active” on September 25; the September 21 register said “Assessment in progress.”
  • The follow-up remains unestablished — the material reviewed does not show how the five-week condition was resolved.

Sources

Filed under gambling regulation SECURITY STAKE
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Written by

Aevan Lark

Aevan Lark is a gambling industry veteran with over 7 years of experience working behind the scenes at leading crypto casinos — from VIP management to risk analysis and customer operations. His insider perspective spans online gambling, sports betting, provably fair gaming, and prediction markets. On Dyutam, Aevan creates in-depth guides, builds verification tools, and delivers honest, data-driven reviews to help players understand the odds, verify fairness, and gamble responsibly.

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