MyBookie vs Stake.com is a matchup of scale as much as anything else. MyBookie is a mid-size offshore sportsbook that has quietly taken US bets since 2014, run by a company, Duranbah Limited N.V., that most bettors have never heard of outside the offshore forums that track its payouts. Stake.com is a different animal entirely: a reported $4.7 billion in 2024 revenue, founders famous enough to co-own a Formula One team, and a single Curaçao license carrying all of it. For a US reader, though, only one of these two will actually open an account.

MyBookie vs Stake.com, side by side

MyBookieStake.com
Founded20142017
LicenseCuraçao eGaming (Duranbah Limited N.V.)Curaçao Gaming Authority (Medium Rare N.V.)
US accessOpen nationwide, no published block listBlocked entirely, always has been
Reported scaleForum-documented payout history since 2014~$4.7B reported 2024 revenue
Regulatory historyMichigan (Jan 23, 2025) and Florida (Feb 5, 2025) cease-and-desist lettersSurrendered its UK Gambling Commission license in 2025
Core productSportsbook, casino, racebookCasino, sportsbook, thousands of in-house games
Withdrawal speedBitcoin 12-24 hours; bank wire up to 7 business daysCrypto typically minutes after approval

Is MyBookie or Stake.com Legal Where You Live?

For a US reader, the legal question only really applies to one of these sites. MyBookie has no state license anywhere, but it also hasn't withdrawn from the country — federal law targets offshore operators, not individual bettors, and that pattern holds even after Michigan and Florida both sent cease-and-desist letters in early 2025. Stake.com isn't in a legal gray zone for Americans so much as absent from the conversation entirely: it blocks US sign-ups outright, so there's no account to weigh the legality of in the first place.

Does Stake.com's Size Make It More Legit?

Not automatically. Stake's revenue and profile dwarf MyBookie's — $4.7 billion reported for 2024 against a smaller, more anonymous operator most players only know from payout-tracking forums. But both companies answer to the same tier of oversight: a single Curaçao license apiece, Medium Rare N.V. for Stake and Duranbah Limited N.V. for MyBookie. Stake's decision to surrender its UK Gambling Commission license in 2025 — a stricter regime than Curaçao — rather than keep operating under it is worth weighing against the size of the numbers in its press releases. Bigger isn't the same as more regulated.

Founders, for context: Stake was built by Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, who had already made money on the Bitcoin dice game Primedice before launching Stake in 2017; both are now reported billionaires, and Craven co-owns the Sauber Formula One team. MyBookie's ownership stays much lower profile — Duranbah Limited N.V., a Curaçao entity that doesn't court the same public visibility.

Which One Is Actually Safer?

Licensing depth is close to a wash — one Curaçao registration each, neither with a second regulator to escalate a dispute to. Where they differ is what happens after a deposit. Stake's crypto withdrawals typically clear within minutes; MyBookie's Bitcoin withdrawals take 12 to 24 hours, and its bank-wire fallback can run up to 7 business days after a 1-2 day internal review. None of that matters to a US bettor evaluating Stake.com, though, since there is no US account to withdraw from in the first place.

Which One for Who

Betting from the US? MyBookie is the only one of the two you can actually open an account with, cease-and-desist letters and all — weigh a decade of payout history against 2025's regulatory pressure and decide for yourself. Impressed by Stake's $4.7 billion in revenue and looking for an in? There isn't one from a US IP address; Stake.us, the separate sweepstakes site, is the brand's actual US answer, and Bovada is the closer real-money alternative among operators that take American sign-ups. Scale is not a substitute for access, and neither site turns a house edge into income — this stays entertainment spending, 21+ only.