Definition of ‘Stake’: Money or property risked on the result of a horse race, card game, match outcome, etc. Stake (or ‘wager’ in America), is straightforward terminology. You bet with your friend on a game of pool, and stake £5 each. Whoever wins the game gets £5 from the other party, and whoever loses is £5 poorer. In betting, the stake (or ‘wager’) usually means money, which is countable. The concept of stake becomes much more complicated if property is wagered, such as houses, cars, or in some countries even wives! If you gamble property then you not only have to calculate the true probabilities of a bet to compute the odds, but also convert the staked property into a monetary value.