I’m blessing the people tonight. Yes! Let’s go, let’s go! What did I say? I’m not playing around. Who are we blessing? Get on it! On the surface, my [ ] has always been with my family. You’re talking about my [ ], so the secret’s out. Drake’s dark side is finally coming to light—his gambling addiction that’s cost him billions. Yep, you heard that right, billions! But that’s not even the most shocking part. Drake has been partnering with online gambling companies, working with them to scam his own fans out of their life savings, ruining lives just to make a buck. And it’s not just him; so many of your favorite celebs and streamers are in on it, cashing in on young guys who get sucked into the glamorous lifestyle they sell.
But now, the word on the street is that Drake might be starting to regret his gambling habit. He’s realizing he’s dug himself into a hole that he might never get out of, especially after losing half a million betting on UFC fighter Israel Adesanya in his latest match. So, is Drake finally going to own up to the fact that he’s been promoting gambling to young men around the world, or has he sold out completely to the highest-paying gambling company? Don’t get it twisted—don’t gamble. Don’t even start. Gambling is just entertainment, nothing more. You won’t break even, you won’t win, none of that, got it?
We all knew Drake had a gambling problem, but lately, it’s only gotten worse. The buzz is that Drake loses so much that when he bets on you, it’s basically like putting a curse on you. For those who missed it, Drake recently bet $450,000 on Nigerian UFC star Israel Adesanya to take down UFC middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis in their recent fight. If Israel had won, Drake would’ve walked away with $850,000. But wouldn’t you know it, at the last moment, the Drake curse kicked in, and Israel lost by choke submission. Du Plessis, who won, even trolled Drake on Twitter, posting a pic of himself with the belt and the caption: “From the bottom of my heart, once again, thank you, @Drake.” Fans in the comments were having a blast: “Drake is the worst gambler ever!” “Well done, champ, making South Africa proud!” “Drake, just keep betting against the champ, and we’ll keep the curse alive!”
But what exactly is the Drake curse, and why does it keep coming up? Well, here’s the deal: Drake has a serious passion for gambling, but it seems like luck isn’t always on his side. In fact, from what we’ve seen, he tends to lose more than he wins. Take, for example, his history with UFC fighter Israel Adesanya. During Israel’s first fight against Alex Pereira, Drake reportedly bet a staggering $2 million Canadian dollars on Israel to win, expecting a cool $2.9 million payout. But, as the Drake curse would have it, Israel was knocked out just minutes before the fight ended, leaving Drake empty-handed.
And it’s not just UFC bets that have gone wrong for him. Drake even got trolled by the Argentina national soccer team after they beat Canada in the Copa America semi-final. Drake had bet $300,000 on the Canadian team, hoping they’d pull off a win, but they lost 2-0. After the match, Argentina’s official Twitter account posted a photo with the caption: “Not like us, not with us.” Ouch. You just know that one stung, especially since Drake’s known for being a bit sensitive.
Now, you might be thinking: “Drake’s just a guy who loves sports and enjoys placing bets on his favorite teams. Plus, with his kind of money, why not?” But here’s where things get a bit more serious. Drake has been pretty upfront about his gambling addiction. In 2022, it came out that he had wagered over $1 billion within just a few months of joining a gambling site called Stake. During a live stream interview with Stake that year, Drake opened up about how his addiction started: “I wasn’t really gambling like that five years ago. I wasn’t into it. It started in Vegas. I had a residency there, and I would perform at this hotel, and that’s how I got into it. I started to attach emotion to it, which people say you shouldn’t do. I used to live by the mantra: ‘It’s business, not personal.’ But it’s definitely personal and not business. Gambling is another thing. I make it personal. I bet my mom’s birthday, I bet my brother’s kids’ birthdays, I bet my birthday, and I just ride it out.”
During that same live stream, Drake was playing different games on Stake and managed to win a mind-blowing $30 million after staking $10 million. “I’m blessing the people tonight,” he said excitedly. “Yes! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! What did I say? I’m not playing around. Who are we blessing? Get on it! We tipping! Yeah, we’re tipping right now. We’re tipping in the chat!” But the high didn’t last—within 90 minutes, he lost it all, including the $10 million he started with. Watching Drake during that stream was like seeing a full-blown addict in action, placing $1,400 bets that could have wiped him out in minutes with each press of the space bar. He even started talking about how important energy is to winning: “I see you guys saying put something on zero, but you know, the key is… I hate to direct the energy anywhere else than what we believe in. I always feel like, by the way, this is all luck, chance, and timing. So if you direct the energy somewhere else, it means you’re nervous. I don’t like to direct the energy away from what we believe in.”
Drake’s gambling stories are wild, but they also shed light on how even someone as successful as him can struggle with addiction. The “Drake curse” might be a running joke, but it’s clear there’s more going on beneath the surface.
One thing was pretty clear from that live stream: Drake was going to get paid, no matter what. Each stream pulls in hundreds of thousands of viewers, which means more money, more ad revenue, and more people potentially signing up to gamble. Even if he lost $30 million, Drake wasn’t walking away empty-handed thanks to his deal with Stake. The $10 million he originally bet? It was probably just company money, making it look like Drake was just having fun gambling: “Roulette is my game. I’m a ritualistic bettor. I bet on my son’s birthday, so that’s how I’m going to start—my mom’s birthday, my birthday.” But once you learn the truth behind this partnership, you might not feel so great about it.
It turns out this company has more skeletons than a graveyard, and they’ve been targeting young people worldwide through celebrities like Drake, who know exactly how dangerous the lifestyle they’re promoting can be. Meet Eddie Craven, the 26-year-old co-founder and face of the world’s largest online cryptocurrency casino, Stake. Stake is an online crypto casino offering a bunch of gambling games that seem almost too good to resist. But we all know the saying: the house always wins. What most people don’t realize is that online crypto gambling is mostly unregulated because it’s illegal in many countries, including the USA and Australia, where Ed Craven is from. So Craven and his co-founder, Bijan Tehrani, moved their operations to Curaçao, a struggling island with more relaxed laws. This was back in 2017. Fast forward to August 19, 2024, and Forbes lists Craven’s net worth at $1.3 billion. But how did Stake blow up so fast when it’s technically illegal in most places? One way is by finding legal loopholes. The other is by recruiting pop culture stars willing to sell out for a payday.
First in line are streamers. A Wired review found that 64 of the top 1,000 most popular Twitch streamers have either streamed crypto slots or promoted sponsorships from crypto gambling sites, with some of these streams attracting over 100,000 live viewers. Take Adin Ross, for instance—the same Adin who pushed a coin called MILF Token and later laughed at his followers after it flopped: “IG number one Discord for stock tips. Adin, must buy AMC today, Chad! By the way, that MILF token I did a while back—I already told you guys, don’t buy that! Got paid a bag to do that. Like, I don’t give a [__], I hope none of you guys actually bought [laughter].”
“Adin, is there any way you can help me out?” Adin also admitted that he was paid $2 million to promote the online casino Rubet. Even SteveWillDoIt from the Nelk Boys recently said he’s making millions to promote Rubet. Then there’s Trainwreckstv, the biggest crypto casino Twitch streamer in the world. Trainwrecks even moved to Canada to keep up his gambling sponsorship with Stake, earning around $1 million a month. And when people call him out for promoting something that could ruin the lives of his mostly young fans, he responds with things like, “I lost $9 million in like 48 minutes, and you’re sitting there thinking your $3,000 is going to do something? Like, you just have to be a stupid idiot, like, it’s just that simple.”
But it gets even shadier. Remember those bets Drake placed on Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira fights? Well, it turns out that Israel and Alex are also sponsored by Stake, so whatever money Drake supposedly lost on those bets was probably covered by the company. The worst part is that even though Drake and these other celebrities know they’re leading their followers into a lifestyle that could ruin them, they justify it with half-hearted disclaimers, saying everyone has a choice. Drake even goes so far as to make it seem like he’s gambling to give back to the people. In his official announcement of his partnership with Stake on Instagram, Drake said: “It was inevitable. Drake and Stake have come together. I’m going to be announcing a date for an upcoming live event where I play to win some real money and give it all to you because what’s better than sharing the love with my people? Stay tuned for details.” Trying to spin gambling as some kind of Robin Hood mission for the greater good? That’s just messed up.
So, let’s talk about that time Drake donated $1 million in Bitcoin to LeBron James’ Family Foundation after winning big on roulette. I mean, come on, was LeBron really that surprised? The whole thing just screamed “publicity stunt”—like, let me quickly donate some money to make my gambling habit look a little less sketchy. And hey, everyone’s got their own life choices to make, right? But here’s the thing: according to a survey from Backlinko, 63% of Twitch users are between 16 and 24 years old, and 73% of them are guys. Plus, 63% of Twitch users are under 34. So, is it really just a coincidence that Stake, the gambling site Drake’s been promoting, mainly partners with athletes? They’ve somehow managed to get English football teams like Watford, Everton, and Gillingham to endorse their platform. They’ve also got sponsorship deals with Formula 1 reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi and his brother, Formula 2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi. Heck, Stake was even the title sponsor for the Alfa Romeo F1 team in 2023, which switched to Sauber after Alfa Romeo left F1 at the end of the season. So, when you’ve got a bunch of young guys who look up to Drake, athletes, and Twitch streamers, and you start making gambling look cool, what do you think is going to happen?
Now, here’s what a lot of people can’t figure out: why does Drake feel the need to publicly tie himself to a company as shady as Stake? I mean, he’s been at the top of the charts for years, even when some of his music hasn’t exactly been hit material. Despite the whole beef with Kendrick and the other drama, Drake still has a massive fan base that would spend their last dollar on him. So why do this? The simple answer is probably money—Drake’s getting a huge paycheck from Stake, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process. But another possibility is that Drake might have gotten sucked into this because of his own gambling problem. Some fans think so too, with one person commenting: “Drake better watch out; the casinos are trying to get him addicted. He’s a big whale. After his promo ends, he’s going to keep playing with the money he made. Then, after that’s gone, his own money.” Another fan said: “Please talk about this more. Drake is scamming. He doesn’t care about the music anymore. He’s just chasing billionaire status, and he’ll do anything to get there, even if it means leading his young fans down the wrong path. These kids are gambling so young, it’s heartbreaking.”
So, what do you think? Did Drake sell out for the cash, or is he dealing with a gambling problem and needs help? Let me know your thoughts in the comments
