Stake Affiliates Review: Commission Formula, Terms and Markets

Stake’s affiliate programme pays a default 10% commission on the wagering of the players you refer, worked out as half the game’s house edge multiplied by the amount wagered, then by your rate. Commission appears in your Stake account as it accrues, there is no revenue-share ledger and therefore no negative carryover, and larger partners can ask for a custom rate. The programme is run by Medium Rare N.V., the Curaçao company behind stake.com, which holds Curaçao Gaming Authority licence OGL/2024/1451/0918.

Our verdict, as of October 2026: a clean, predictable model for publishers with international crypto traffic outside Stake’s 44 prohibited countries, offset by affiliate terms that give Stake wide discretion to end the deal, withhold payment and control what you publish. We reviewed it from Stake’s affiliate overview, its Affiliate Terms, four help-centre articles and its general terms. We may be paid by some programmes listed on this site; that does not change how we read their terms.

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   Stake Affiliates

   10% default commission on wagering (house edge x wagered / 2 x rate); custom rates by agreement

   • Casino, sportsbook and poker rake all earn commission on one campaign link
   • Lifetime commission while referred players keep playing; per-campaign stats in your account
   • Brand licence: Medium Rare N.V., Curaçao Gaming Authority OGL/2024/1451/0918
   Visit siteRead reviewNo minimum payout published; commission credited to your Stake account in crypto or local currency; no negative carryover (wager-based); traffic from Stake's 44 prohibited countries and Ontario earns nothing; no brand bidding

Operator, licence and who may join

Clause 1.1 of Stake’s terms names Medium Rare N.V., with its head office at Seru Loraweg 17 B, Curaçao, as owner and operator of stake.com, licensed by the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) under number OGL/2024/1451/0918. The same company runs the affiliate programme: the Affiliate Terms open by saying the Stake Affiliate Program is operated by Medium Rare N.V. Payment processing may run through two Cyprus subsidiaries, Medium Rare Limited (HE 410775) and MRS Tech Ltd (HE 477481).

To check the licence, start from the stake.com footer and its licences page, then compare the number with the CGA’s public register at cga.cw. Expect friction there in October 2026. The CGA confirmed unauthorised access to its portal on 17 and 22 September 2026, the portal was still offline on 2 October, and the authority says existing licences remain valid. Keep a dated screenshot of the footer and licence page in your compliance file until the register is back.

Joining is not a separate application form. Stake’s help centre says you must first be a Stake.com customer, then open the Affiliate link in the menu and create a campaign. Schedule D of the Affiliate Terms adds the eligibility floor: 18 years old or the age of majority where you live, plus compliance with Stake’s policies. Acceptance remains at Stake’s absolute discretion under clause 4.3, and you must hand over any information Stake asks for.

Stake Affiliates in one table (October 2026)

The commission formula with real numbers

Everything starts from the amount your players stake, not from what they lose. For casino games Stake takes the house edge of each game, halves the theoretical win, and applies your rate. Sports bets all use a flat 3% edge, whatever the market. Poker is simpler again: you receive your rate on the rake Stake collects from pots.

The worked examples below use the default 10% rate and one referred player per row. Stake’s own Dice page lists a 99% RTP, so the edge is 1%; the slot row assumes a game with a 96% RTP, which is a common figure in provider game sheets but varies by title.

One pattern stands out. Because the theoretical win is halved before your rate applies, the default 10% always equals 5% of Stake’s theoretical gross win on casino and sports play. On the slot row, the theoretical house win is US$1,000 and you receive US$50. Players who favour low-edge originals such as Dice or Limbo produce small commission per dollar wagered, while players on higher-edge slots produce more.

Wager-based pay against revenue share

Most casino programmes pay a share of net gaming revenue (NGR): deposits lost, minus bonuses, fees and sometimes taxes. That model rewards you when players lose and can push your balance below zero when a high roller wins. Stake removes that variance. A referred player who hits a big win still generated wagering, so your commission for that month stays positive, and there is nothing to carry forward.

The price of that certainty is a lower share of the upside. Take the slot player above and imagine a revenue-share deal at 30% of NGR. If the player’s actual loss matched the theoretical US$1,000, the revenue-share affiliate would earn US$300 before deductions, six times the US$50 a default Stake affiliate earns on the same play. If the same player won US$3,000 instead, the revenue-share affiliate would start the next month in a hole while the Stake affiliate would still bank US$50.

• Stake’s model suits sites with many small and mid-sized players, sports traffic, or audiences where a single whale could wipe out a revenue-share month.
• Revenue share suits publishers with steady, high-value casino players and the cash flow to absorb losing months.
• A custom Stake rate narrows the gap, which is why the help centre points larger affiliates to their affiliate manager.

Our guide to crypto casino affiliate marketing covers commission models, admin fees and sub-affiliate deals across the wider market.

Tracking, campaigns and getting paid

Campaigns live inside your Stake account. Under the Campaigns tab you create a campaign, name it, and receive a campaign ID and referral link; the same screen reports hits, referrals, total deposits, unique deposits and commission per campaign. Run separate campaigns per site, newsletter or social channel so you can see which source actually produces wagering.

Stake’s help centre lists the tracking rules that decide whether a referral counts:

• Only unique registrations are accepted, and each account can belong to one affiliate only.
• The player must click your link before registering and sign up from that click.
• A code typed into the “Code (Optional)” field overrides your link, because codes take priority.
• A player who shares your IP address cannot be attached to you.
• Players who registered without your code have 24 hours to add an affiliate welcome code afterwards.

Payment is described as instant on the affiliate overview: earnings show up in your account and can be claimed from there, in crypto or local currency. Schedule C of the Affiliate Terms is looser. It says the amount, currency, method and date of payment are whatever Stake communicates to you in writing from time to time, and that Stake can change them at its absolute discretion. No minimum payout is published, so treat the in-account balance as the working rule and keep records of each claim.

Affiliate Terms clauses that matter most

Stake’s Affiliate Terms are short, and almost every clause favours the operator. Read these before you build a site around the brand.

1. Termination without cause (2.1, 2.4). Stake can end the agreement immediately by written notice, and on termination your entitlement to any payment ceases. Lifetime commission therefore lasts only as long as Stake keeps you in the programme.
2. Withholding on suspicion (3.2, Schedule C D). Payment can be withheld in whole or part if you are suspected of a breach, with brand-keyword promotion, arbitrage or matched betting, unapproved incentivised traffic and “bad faith” traffic named as examples.
3. No brand bidding (Schedule B O). You may not bid on Stake-branded keywords in search engines or ad networks. Banners and pay-per-click ads need advance written permission and a negative keyword list (Schedule B FF).
4. Prohibited regions earn nothing (Schedule B G). You must not target users in regions Stake restricts, and commission ignores traffic from those places.
5. No VPN advice (Schedule B H). Telling readers to use a VPN to reach Stake is a breach in its own right.
6. Offers need approval (Schedule B V, W). Any offer you show referrals must be approved in writing and current.
7. Non-disparagement (clause 11). You agree not to make disparaging statements about Stake. Review sites should weigh what that means for honest criticism.
8. Your content becomes Stake’s (6.1, 6.3). Content and materials you create in the course of the programme become Stake’s property, and Stake may use your image, likeness or voice for promotion.
9. Liability cap (7.3). Stake’s liability to you is limited to payments made in the previous 12 months.
10. Selling your site (Schedule B HH). You must give 30 days’ notice and buyer details, and Stake has no obligation to let the buyer continue.

Self-referral is excluded too. Commission does not accrue on accounts you create, accounts opened by your employees or immediate family, or accounts that existed before the player used your link. Schedule B L also bans registering your own personal account with your referral link.

Markets: where Stake traffic is wasted or risky

Clause 14.3 of Stake’s terms lists 44 countries plus the Canadian province of Ontario as Prohibited Jurisdictions, applying to anyone located there, residents and visitors alike. The list includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Israel, the Cayman Islands and Curaçao itself, as well as most EU states: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. The remaining entries are Afghanistan, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, North Korea, Serbia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe. Geo-filter your Stake links, because clicks from these places cannot earn commission.

The United Kingdom shows how fast a market can close. The Gambling Commission told TGP Europe, the white-label company that ran Stake’s British site, that the shutdown would take effect from 11 March 2025, after an investigation into the Stake logo appearing in an adult-content video. From that date a UK-facing Stake promotion is promotion of an unlicensed gambling site.

North America needs separate handling. Stake.us is a sweepstakes site with its own affiliate overview at stake.us, not part of the stake.com programme, and several states have banned sweepstakes casino models, including California from 1 January 2026 and New York from 8 December 2025. In Canada, Ontario is prohibited by Stake’s terms; Covers reported on 6 October 2026 that Stake received an Alberta iGaming licence and planned to launch there on 12 October 2026, which would be a separately regulated product with its own marketing rules.

Australia is already on Stake’s prohibited list. It is still worth knowing that the Australian Communications and Media Authority says the Gambling Reform Bill passed on 19 August 2026 bans activity-based affiliate commissions, with most measures applying from 1 January 2027. A wager-based model like Stake’s is exactly the kind of pay that regulators are now targeting.

For a market-by-market view of where crypto casino promotion is tolerated and where regulators fine or block affiliates, see our analysis of the Bitcoin gambling market and our notes for casino webmasters.

Strengths, weaknesses and who should apply

Strengths.

• A published, auditable formula: you can recompute commission from your players’ wagering.
• No negative carryover and no admin fee deductions to argue over, because pay is not based on net revenue.
• Casino, sportsbook and poker all count, on a single campaign link.
• Commission credited in-account with crypto and local-currency options.
• A recognised brand with large sports sponsorships, which helps conversion where it is allowed.

Weaknesses.

• The default 10% equals 5% of theoretical win, low next to typical revenue-share percentages.
• A long prohibited list removes the US, UK, Australia and most of the EU.
• Stake may terminate without cause, and payment entitlement ends on termination.
• No published minimum payout or fixed payment date in the Affiliate Terms.
• Non-disparagement and content-ownership clauses sit awkwardly with independent reviews.

Apply if your audience sits in allowed markets, you value steady pay over upside, and you can live with a programme that sets the rules unilaterally. Look elsewhere if your traffic is mainly European or British, or if you run review content you are not willing to have shaped by an operator. Our affiliate programme comparison sets Stake against revenue-share programmes, and the BC.Game programme review covers the closest like-for-like crypto alternative. Our scoring rules are on the how we review page.

Stake affiliate programme FAQ

How much does the Stake affiliate programme pay?

The default rate is 10%. For casino games Stake multiplies the game’s house edge by the amount wagered, halves it and applies your rate; sports bets use a fixed 3% edge, and poker pays your rate on rake. In practice the default equals 5% of Stake’s theoretical win. Larger affiliates can ask an affiliate manager for a custom rate.

Does Stake use negative carryover?

No. Commission is calculated on your players’ wagering, not on net gaming revenue, so a player’s big win does not create a negative balance that carries into the next month.

Can I send UK, US or Australian players to Stake?

No. All three are on the Prohibited Jurisdictions list in clause 14.3 of Stake’s terms, together with 41 other countries and Ontario. The Affiliate Terms forbid targeting those regions and say commission ignores traffic from them. Stake.us is a separate sweepstakes site with its own affiliate programme.

Do I need a Stake player account to become an affiliate?

Yes. Stake’s help centre says you must be a Stake.com customer first, then open the Affiliate section and create a campaign. You must be at least 18 or the age of majority where you live, and you may not register your own personal account through your referral link.

Can Stake stop paying my commission?

Yes. Under clauses 2.1 and 2.4 of the Affiliate Terms Stake can terminate immediately without cause, and your entitlement to payment ends on termination. Clause 3.2 also lets Stake withhold payment if it suspects a breach.

Is brand bidding on Stake keywords allowed?

No. Schedule B of the Affiliate Terms bans bidding on Stake-branded keywords in search engines and ad services, and any banner or pay-per-click campaign needs Stake’s advance written permission plus compliance with its negative keyword list.