What Happened
A player from Estonia says they deposited $500 in Dogecoin at Stake, grew it to about $830 on five tennis bets, and were then restricted before they could withdraw. Stake said the account was under an enhanced identity check that had to be finished through an emailed link before address and income proof could even be looked at. After the player sent an ID video, Stake permanently restricted the account and kept the funds, saying the KYC information was misleading.
How It Developed
- 2026-05-13Complaint opened over a first withdrawal stuck since 6 May while verification was pending.
- 2026-06-22The case moved to a resolver, who asked Stake to explain.
- 2026-06-26Stake said the account was restricted over a suspected rule breach, that deposits and withdrawals pause during the review, and that a fresh verification link had been emailed.
- 2026-07-03The player was in Russia and could not open the link without a VPN; Stake confirmed changing IP address for the check itself would not affect the outcome.
- 2026-07-23After reviewing the ID video, Stake said verification had failed, called the submission misleading, and permanently restricted the account with the funds withheld.
- 2026-07-30The mediator asked the player for photos of the exact ID used, compared them with Stake's evidence, and found material inconsistencies in the document. The complaint was closed as rejected.
Rejected
The mediator found inconsistencies in the ID document used for verification, so Stake's decision to keep the roughly $830 balance stood.
What Has (and Hasn't) Helped
Nothing worked for the player. The mediator did its own check and sided with the casino after looking at the identity document itself. The one useful clarification: Stake said that switching IP to open a verification link, while travelling, would not count against the player.