Kick Streaming Platform Reports 100 Million Users While Facing U.S. Lawsuit Over Gambling Ties

Kick, the livestreaming platform built by the founders of online crypto casino Stake, reports it has reached 100 million cumulative users since its launch in late 2022. The company pays streamers 95 cents of every dollar earned from subscriptions and operates from an office on Collins Street in Melbourne. It employs about 1,000 people and plans to move to a larger office in Cremorne this summer.

Kick was registered weeks after Amazon-owned Twitch banned streams promoting unlicensed gambling sites, including Stake, in October 2022. The platform launched by the end of that year with a revenue split that returns 95 percent to creators. The company publishes no audited financial statements and does not disclose detailed audience metrics.

Executives describe the 100 million user figure as cumulative and state weekly active users are closer to 10 million.

Kick has hosted streams involving gambling, violence, and other controversial material. In 2023, two streamers broadcast themselves hiring a sex worker in Brisbane. In August 2024, mixed martial artist Raja Jackson was banned after beating a wrestler unconscious during a stream.

A U.S. lawsuit alleges that Stake, whose logo appears on a Formula 1 car displayed in Kick’s office, operates illegal gambling. Stake no longer sponsors an F1 team.

Stake are controlled by Easygo, the company founded by Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. The pair have invested close to $1 billion into Kick, which remains unprofitable and is testing an advertising business. Executives state the two businesses maintain separate leadership and staff.