Is the next victim of the ‘Drake curse’ Drake himself?
Many people likely know that the Canadian rapper has a longtime affiliation with Stake, a gaming operator that is reputedly one of the grey market leaders in Canada and elsewhere.
Now, the partners have been taken to court in the U.S.
A new class-action lawsuit in Missouri alleges that the Curaçao-headquartered cryptocurrency-focused gambling operator’s American-facing site, Stake.us, is operating as an illegal online casino in the state. Stake.us is marketed as a free-to-play social gaming platform.
Drake has been associated with Stake since 2022 and the musician and the company frequently feature one another in their respective social media posts. Drake has become notorious for high-profile, high-stakes bets, and the lore has it that anyone he backs is destined to lose. In June, he posted on Instagram that he had gambled $125 million and lost $8 million in the prior month alone.
When he posts about the wagers he’s made — whether it’s $1.5 million on the Toronto Maple Leafs to reach the NHL Eastern Conference Finals in June (lost), $500,000 on the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup the same month (also lost), or $300,000 on Jannik Sinner to win the U.S. Open in September (again, lost) — Stake’s logo is generally visible.
Stake-Drake association labeled ‘corrosive’ and ‘fraudulent’
In the Missouri lawsuit filed Oct. 27, the plaintiff named Drake and celebrity streamer Adin Ross as co-defendants in the suit along with Stake.
As well as arguing that Stake.us’s dual-currency format equates to online casino gambling, which is illegal in Missouri, the suit claims that Stake funds Drake’s big-betting habit with house money and that this equates to a form of fraudulent advertising.
“Drake and Ross do so under deeply fraudulent pretenses,” states the lawsuit. “When Ross and Drake purport to gamble online with Stake.com, they often do not do so with their own money despite telling the public in Missouri and elsewhere the opposite. This fact is not shared with the public in Missouri by Stake and/or Ross and/or Drake. These acts are deceptive, fraudulent and unfair and violate Missouri law.
“Drake’s role as Stake’s unofficial mascot is quietly corrosive,” adds the claim. “He’s glamorizing the platform to millions of impressionable fans, many of whom treat his wild betting habits like gospel. What makes it even more unsettling is that Stake apparently fronts Drake and Ross ‘house money,’ so any reported losses are part of a marketing tactic designed to draw attention.”
In separate cases, Stake has been sued by several other U.S. states in 2025, as have multiple other dual-currency gaming sites.
Suit comes in same week as apparent $1M gift
The same week the Missouri suit was filed, Drake posted a video to Instagram that shows him running “discovering” an apparent gift from Stake of Bitcoin worth around $1 million to celebrate his birthday. The post tags Stake in the caption and ends with the Stake logo emblazoned upon the screen.
“Money in the vault???????????? @stake are you trying to tell me we’re back?” read Drake’s caption. Stake wrote in a reply that “We never left.”
Reports in August had suggested that Drake and Stake had cut ties after Drake appeared to claim that multiple attempts to withdraw money from the platform were blocked. Drake also seemed to criticize Stake founder Ed Craven and delete his account on Kick, the streaming platform also owned by Crave.
Stake still awaiting Ontario license
Stake operates across Canada except for the regulated iGaming province of Ontario. Data provided to Canadian Gaming Business by H2 Gambling Capital suggests that Stake is one of the country’s two biggest grey-market online gaming operators active in terms of nationwide revenue share, behind only Super Group. Unlike Betway and Jackpot City owner Super Group, Stake is not licensed and operational in Ontario’s regulated market.
However, a dedicated StakeOntario.com website that previously teased that the operator was “Coming 2024” has stated for months that Stake.ca is expected to launch in Ontario this year. Stake’s General Manager for Canada, former Betano and Coolbet leader Kris Abbott, is working with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to procure a license, adds the site.
