Definition of "stakes"

These are the stakes: to make a world in which all of God's children can live or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die.Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

1964 September 7, Lyndon B. Johnson, 0:43 from the start, in "Daisy" Ad (1964): Preserved from 35mm in the Tony Schwartz Collection‎, National Archives and Records Administration

Holloway has unfinished business in the Premier League after relegation last year and he will make a swift return if he can overcome West Ham a week on Saturday. Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, will be acutely aware that when the stakes are high, Blackpool are simply formidable.

2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph‎