The Los Angeles (LA) City Attorney has sued sweepstakes operator Stake, Kick Streaming, and other partners over an alleged illegal gambling ring.
As well as Stake and Kick, the two companies’ co-founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, service providers Evolution and Hacksaw, and 12 other related partners have been named in a lawsuit, with charges related to running or aiding and abetting the running of an illegal online gambling ring. This allegedly puts them in violation of California law.
BREAKING: The Los Angeles City Attorney has sued sweepstakes casino operator Stake, Kick Streaming, Ed Craven, Bijan Tehrani, Evolution and 12 others for running and/or aiding & abetting the running of an illegal online gambling enterprise in violation of California law. pic.twitter.com/hwHB4Q3xzR
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) August 29, 2025
This isn’t the first time that Stake has faced legal action, with lawsuits already in California, Illinois, and Alabama. Those previous cases allege that Stake has engaged in alleged bad practices and running an illegal casino posing as a sweepstakes game.
Lawsuits reaching beyond Stake and Kick
In this new LA lawsuit, the naming of Evolution, Hacksaw, and other B2B gambling services providers highlights that not only Stake and Kick could be held liable for illegal gambling practices, but also the service providers and operators that seemingly assisted them.
Both Evolution and Hacksaw are Swedish companies that now face allegations that they knowingly licensed content to a platform operating as an unlicensed casino in California. They could now face both civil penalties and restitution orders.
While other suppliers, including Pragmatic Play, Red Tiger, NetEnt, Nolimit City, and Big Time Gaming, analysis from sports betting lawyer Daniel Wallach underlines that Evolution and Hacksaw have the most to lose, being valued on public markets.
With illegal gambling taking up a third of the US market, gambling service providers now have even greater reason to ensure that the services they provide are being used on legal games, or else risk lawsuits themselves. As well as potentially costing large sums, the reputational damage could also be extreme, especially for smaller providers.
Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
