Share trading platform Stake sues same-named local online casino group
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Two stars of Australia’s new economy – the similarly named share trading platform Stake and online cryptocurrency casino juggernaut stake.com – are locked in a life-or-death court battle over naming rights amid growing concerns the gambling outfit has major plans for its home country.
Stake the share platform launched legal action in the Federal Court in August seeking to enforce its trademarks and stop stake.com, a multibillion-dollar enterprise, from using that name for its business in Australia.
The fast-growing Sydney-based share trading platform, the third-largest broker in the country, alleges that the casino group stake.com has been breaking Australian consumer law and has misled consumers through the use of its brand in Australia and its marketing, including its sponsorship of the Alfa Romeo team and the sale of apparel.
Stake the share trading platform, which owns the URL stake.com.au, alleges stake.com’s use of the name in Australia has potentially led to consumers believing the two brands are related when they are not.
The share trading platform Stake, founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs Dan Silver and Matt Leibowitz, alleges there is a threat that more consumers could be misled if stake.com is allowed to continue with its plans to grow its business significantly in Australia under the brand name Stake.
The casino group, led by Melbourne-based twenty-somethings billionaires Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, is expected to seek to have the matter summarily dismissed.
A spokesperson for stake.com said: “We are aware of a frivolous claim lodged in the Federal Court by Stakeshop, which in part claims that our global Formula One team sponsorship impinges on their ability to sell trucker hats.”
“We are proud of the global stake.com brand. As a group, we abide by the laws of the countries in which we operate, and do not offer our stake.com platform to Australian customers. We believe the claim has no legal merit and will vigorously defend our rights.”
The court case has shed new light on stake.com’s expansion plans for Australia, where it remains blocked to Australian users.
Court documents reveal the casino group has sought to buy the stake.com.au website from the sharemarket trading platform business. According to the court documents, the casino group has also registered several Australian website domains for its Australian expansion and applied to register a slew of trademarks including Stake Australia, Stake Bet and Stake Casino.
The Federal Court action comes after years of simmering tensions between the two groups over the use of stake.com’s name in Australia.
Stake.com was established in 2017 but flew under the radar in Australia until late 2021, when this masthead revealed the local origins of the business that had grown to be one of world’s largest online casinos, processing hundreds of billions of bets on sports, virtual table games and online slot machines.
In early 2022, stake.com signed hip-hop megastar Drake as its lead ambassador. Later in 2022 it signed a multi-year deal to become lead jersey sponsor for English Premier League team Everton FC as well as its sponsorship of Alfa Romeo’s F1 team.
The significant increase in stake.com’s marketing and media presence was noticed at the share trading platform group that built its user base during the COVID-inspired boom in Gen Y and Gen Z investors, thanks in part to its ultra-low cost brokerage fee model, savvy marketing and the broadening into other financial services including a superannuation product.
A spokesman for Stake the share trading platform said that since the group was founded in Australia it had built a client base of more than 500,000 and more than $2.5 billion in assets under management.
“Over the past six years, we have established a trusted and culturally relevant Australian brand that reflects our dedication to meeting customer needs. It permeates all parts of our business, spanning products, content, internal culture, customer interactions and much more, making it our most valuable asset. We are committed to protecting the Stake brand and the high level of consumer trust associated with it,” the spokesman said.
“We are concerned by the threatened use of the Stake brand in Australia by stake.com in relation to gambling, casino and sports betting services, due to the potential for customer confusion and damage to our brand and reputation.”
Stake.com is not available in Australia but according to court documents, the group is already making arrangements for a major expansion in this country and is seeking a sports betting licence.
In October 2022, stake.com casino executive Brais Pena Sanchez contacted Stake share trading founder Silver on LinkedIn and arranged a video conference meeting where the pair discussed Stake the share platform selling its Australian URL, stake.com.au, to the Curacao-registered, Australian-operated casino group.
During those discussions, Sanchez – the casino group’s chief strategy officer – informed Silver that stake.com planned to launch in Australia under the name Stakebet, or similar, according to court documents. A deal never ensued and the website remains owned by the share trading platform.
Tensions flared again in early 2023 after stake.com the casino was announced as the new team sponsor for Formula 1 team Alfa Romeo, sparking a flurry of legal letters between the two groups ahead of the Melbourne race.
According to the court documents, the casino group’s lawyers assured the share trading Stake that it would not use its logo in conjunction with the Melbourne Grand Prix and did not intend to display the name on any vehicles or uniforms or as part of the Alfa Romeo team name.
However, the share trading Stake alleges that during the four days of the Grand Prix, Stake casino logos appeared on banners for official team merchandise, the team display and on signs at the event and in the race program.
In May, Stake.com was applying to register a large number of new trademarks for goods and services. This included Stake Australia, Stake Bookie, Stake Betting, Stake Gaming, Stake Esports, Stake Casino, Stake Sportsbook, Stake Bet, Stake Punt, Stake Sports, Stake Pokes and Stake Slots.
The casino group has also registered a series of Australian website names under the “.au” domain including stakebet.au; stakecasino.au, stakesports.au and playstake.au.
