World's Largest Illegal Sport Streaming Site Streameast Shut Down in Global Piracy Crackdown
Streameast, the most visited illegal sports streaming site in the world, has been shut down after a major international crackdown. Egyptian police, working with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), raided a location near Cairo, arresting two men and seizing laptops, phones, crypto wallets, and credit cards linked to the operation. The site had racked up 1.6 billion visits in the last year alone, streaming everything from the Premier League and Champions League to the NFL, NBA, F1, and more.
Investigators uncovered a shell company in the UAE allegedly used to launder over £4.9 million in ad revenue since 2010. Streameast’s operators are also believed to have used the profits to buy property and luxury items. Traffic to the network’s 80 domains came largely from the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, and the Philippines. The domains now redirect users to a “Watch Legally” page. Despite this, Reddit users have flagged “copycat” sites already popping up.
DAZN’s Ed McCarthy said the operation was “siphoning value from sports at every level,” while ACE chairman Charles Rivkin called the takedown a “resounding victory.” But experts warn it won’t end piracy altogether, with many pointing to high subscription costs as a driving factor. As one analyst put it, without more affordable access to live sports, this will remain a “game of whack-a-mole.”
