It’s no secret that, for a large number of sports fans, illegal streaming websites like Streameast and CrackStreams are a primary means of accessing live games.
Sports piracy site Streameast reportedly generated 1.6 billion visits across 80 associated domains in 2024. The site’s popularity directly led to the arrest of two men in Egypt last September. Now, those two men are headed for trial.
According to a report by Adam Leventhal in The Athletic, Egypt’s Attorney General’s office ordered “the referral of two defendants to criminal trial” on Monday in association with the Streameast arrests. The two men, who have not been identified publicly, are being accused of operating a Streameast website “which cloned characteristics from other — and still active — Streameast sites” that provided free streams of licensed live sports content.
The duo were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement and money laundering. The site reportedly generated £7.6 million in advertising revenue, and the pair of Egyptians attempted to obfuscate the source of their profits through the establishment of a shell company, real estate purchases, and holding large sums of cryptocurrency.
Per Leventhal, the two men also ran a version of CrackStreams, another popular live sports piracy site with numerous domains.
It is unclear how connected these two men are to the wide network of other Streameast and CrackStreams domains that remain operational today. However, no matter how many arrests are made, shuttering these sites seems to be a losing battle.
“I’m under no illusion that I’ve obliterated the Streameast brand off the face of the earth,” the Motion Picture Association’s anti-piracy lead Larissa Knapp told The Athletic in September following the initial arrests. “When we take one down, five more will come up or more, because folks have that brand recognition.”
In November, nearly half of respondents to a survey conducted by The Athletic said they used illegal streams to watch games. An estimated £20 billion of potential revenue is lost each year due to piracy. Even if that number is intentionally exaggerated by anti-piracy stakeholders, there’s no arguing that illegal streaming of live games is a widespread and hard-to-solve issue for sports leagues and networks across the globe.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.