Streamer David “TheGrefg” Martínez has the sixth largest channel in the world on Twitch in terms of followers. At Christmas, he announced that he would give away a Tesla styled like “Lightning McQueen”, the car from Cars. The car is worth about €110,000. However, upon closer inspection, the giveaway turned out to be a lottery with slim chances of winning, except for the streamer himself, who is surely making a profit this Christmas.
That was the promise: In a YouTube video from December 25, TheGrefG kissed a red Tesla that was painted like Lightning McQueen.
With his usual energy, he wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a great new year 2025. He was giving something to people for Christmas: his car, a Tesla Model S Plaid – that’s a car worth about €110,000.
Then he talked, like in an advertisement, in detail about how great the car is. However, it was suspicious that he suddenly started talking about a lottery and that viewers should watch the entire video to get all the details about the lottery.
TheGrefG is a big name in Fortnite, just like this young man:
Streamer is not giving away a Tesla, but raffling it off
What is the catch? The “gift” that TheGrefg is offering to his loyal fans is not a gift at all; he is organizing a lottery: Because anyone who wants to “receive” the car has to buy a ticket for €1 and then hope to be drawn.
What is the reaction? As reported by the Spanish site 3DJuegos, the reaction on social media is far from as positive as TheGrefG presumably hoped.
People say: One cannot announce a gift when one benefits more from it than the recipients. Given TheGrefG’s massive reach, surely more people would buy a ticket for €1 than the car is actually worth.
Moreover, the winner of the car would face additional costs; he would have to pay taxes on the thing, register it expensively outside of Andorra, and much more. What might seem like a great opportunity to win a Tesla looks less appealing when considering the details.
A user says:
“99% of the people participating here do not have enough money to pay the fees for the Tesla, and 99.9% do not have a connection at home to charge the Tesla. A giveaway is free. What you are doing is a lottery: You are making so much money from it that you can afford 5 new Teslas.”
Other users see it as a stroke of genius by TheGrefG: He spends €120,000 on a Tesla to get back double or triple what he invested through the lottery.
Another adds: If I were TheGrefG, I would always do such lotteries. It’s probably three times as profitable as the prize – the guy is a genius, he always wins.
A third says: “I have been following you for years. But this looks more like a gift for you than for us.”
TheGrefG says: The raffle causes him enormous costs
This is what the streamer says: TheGrefg has actually anticipated the reaction in the fully monetized video filled with ads. He claims that the raffle incurs enormous costs for him. There needs to be a website set up and a notary involved, and all of that – oh, the expenses coming his way.
And he doesn’t even know how many people will actually participate in the event and buy a ticket. While he hopes it goes well, he bears the risk here. Oh, by the way: The car has not even been driven for 2,000 kilometers.
So far, it seems that his love for Christmas and the community does not go as far as covering all the costs himself.
The streamer TheGrefG became internationally known after he got a skin in Fortnite, but the affection has cooled down: Twitch streamer became famous through Fortnite, now breaks with Epic: “Lost all respect”
