Stakemate

Most betting apps treat a bet as something you place on your own and then win or lose in solitude (and, often, annoyance). Stakemate’s big idea is to put the group chat inside the betting app. It’s a London-founded start-up, set up by its chief executive, Arya Tayebi, and its app has been on the App Store since May 2023, although the business moved its UK licence over to Bet Theory (Malta) Limited in May 2025. It’s grown quickly; it has a sponsorship deal with Watford FC, and the app has a rating of 4.8 from nearly 8,500 reviews on the App Store, which is more than most bookies can say. Is there a proper bookmaker behind all the banter? Let’s take a look.

Stakemate Welcome Offers

The sports welcome offer is “Bet £10, Get £20 in Free Bets”. Place a £10 bet at odds of evens (2.0) or bigger, let it settle, and you’ll get four £5 free bets. There’s a catch in the small print, though. Each free bet has to go on a bet with at least three selections at total odds of 3.0 or bigger, so you can’t use them on a simple single, and as usual, the free bet stakes aren’t returned with any winnings. Cashed-out qualifying bets don’t count.

There’s a casino welcome offer as well, but not everybody gets it. Stakemate says it’s rolling the offer out to selected new customers, and you only qualify if you see it in the app when you sign up. If you do, depositing and wagering £10 on slots gets you 50 free spins on Big Bass Blast, worth 10p each. There’s no wagering on the winnings and no cap on what you can win, which is about as fair as free spins get. Deposits made with Revolut don’t qualify for either offer.

Ongoing Promotions

Stakemate is at its best once you’ve signed up. Sub Cover is the pick of the bunch for football fans, because if you’ve backed a player who gets substituted, your bet carries on with whoever replaces him. There’s also an Early Payout feature on selected matches, which settles your bet as a winner as soon as your team goes two goals up, and Bet Boosts on popular markets.

Every customer who has made at least one deposit gets a free Daily Prize Draw, where you pick one of several face-down cards for a free bet, free spins or cash. The referral scheme gives you and a friend a £5 free bet each when they sign up and place a £10 bet at evens or better, which fits the whole “betting with mates” idea nicely. There are also separate Bet and Casino Rewards Clubs, where you earn points from real-money play, move up through levels and collect a free bet or free spins reward at each one.

What are the Pros and Cons of Stakemate?

Sports, Casino and Social Features at Stakemate

Football is Stakemate’s bread and butter, with the Premier League front and centre and player markets on shots, fouls, goals, assists and cards for selected matches. It isn’t only about football, though, and you’ll also find tennis, horse racing, darts, cricket, basketball and American football in the app, along with Bet Builders and live in-play betting with real-time match stats and line-ups.

What sets it apart is the social side. You can set up a group with your friends, chat about the matches inside the app, put together a group bet that you all chip in on, and share or copy each other’s accas, instead of passing screenshots around on WhatsApp. It’s a simple idea, but it’s done well, and it’s clearly what keeps people coming back. The casino is more of a side order, with slots and live casino tables tucked into the app for when there’s no football on.

Withdrawal Processing and Support

Withdrawals are one of Stakemate’s selling points. It uses TrueLayer’s Pay by Bank service, which takes your deposits straight from your bank account, and its Verified Payouts service pays withdrawals straight back to your bank, however you deposited. Stakemate says it processes withdrawals straight away rather than leaving you waiting three to five working days, the minimum withdrawal is £5, and you can withdraw whenever you like. There are a couple of things to be aware of. Sports winnings are capped at £20,000 per account per day, which is low compared with the bigger bookies, and the terms state that customer funds have no protection if the company goes out of business.

Customer Support and Licensing

The only contact method on the Stakemate website is an email address, support@stakemate.com. There’s no phone line, and no live chat is offered either. If a complaint can’t be sorted out with Stakemate, you can take it to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) for free, which is the right kind of independent referee for a bookmaker.

Stakemate is run by Bet Theory (Malta) Limited, which holds UK Gambling Commission account 66151. It has been licensed since 2 May 2025 for betting, casino, bingo and gambling software, with no regulatory actions against it. Before that, the app traded under Bet Theory UK Ltd, whose licence is now inactive, and the App Store still lists that company as the app’s seller. The website gives a registered office in Ta’ Xbiex, while the Gambling Commission’s register lists a head office in St Julian’s, which is also in Malta.

Stakemate – The Verdict

Stakemate is one of the few new UK bookmakers that actually tries something different, and the social features aren’t just a gimmick bolted on afterwards. Group bets, Sub Cover and fast bank payouts make it a fun app for anyone who bets on football with their mates. It’s let down by a welcome offer that’s hemmed in by acca rules, a casino bonus that only some people can claim and support that’s limited to email, and the £20,000 daily winnings cap won’t suit bigger punters. For the Saturday afternoon acca crowd, though, it’s a very easy app to like.