Drake sued for ties to online casino, accused of paying for inflated streams

2026 does not start well for the rapper Duck. In addition to dealing with the fallout from Kendrick Lamar’s viral track “Not Like Us,” Drake is now facing legal issues, as he has been named in a federal lawsuit and accused of persuading users to play for real money on the online casino platform Stake. Additionally, the explosive lawsuit filed in Virginia also claims the rapper used the casino’s online tipping feature to send large sums of money to “artificially inflate streaming numbers” for his music.

Drake fans might not even go a full day in 2026 without receiving some grim news. According to several sources, including Complex And rolling stoneDrake and the popular streamer Adin Ross are being prosecuted for promoting the online casino Stake. For those who don’t know it, Stake is an online platform that does not offer real money gambling. However, the lawsuit filed by LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines claims otherwise.

Drake, Ross and a third man are accused of preying on consumers and illegally exposing them to “substantial risks of gambling addiction.” Additionally, both women claim they were “incentivized to participate” in the company’s “predatory gaming environment” after seeing Drake’s paid promotion, which included social media posts, giveaways and live-streamed gaming sessions.

Drake and Ross are listed as “zealous” and “paid” promoters of the Stake platform, which Ridley and Hines say “obscure the true nature and extent of their conduct.”

“Both men engaged in live gambling, betting large sums of money provided surreptitiously by Stake,” the lawsuit states. “In other words, even though Drake and Ross claimed to be playing with their own Stake Cash, it was actually provided to them by the house.”

In the past, Drake has made headlines with his big six-figure bets on the Stake platform. More recently, he bet $200,000 on Jake Paul to win his December 19 fight against heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

The above claims aren’t the only shocking parts of the explosive lawsuit. In addition to being accused of acting as paid promoters of the Stake platform, the documents claim that Drake and Ross used the platform’s “tipping” system to transfer six-figure amounts between the men to fund “artificial streaming to create fraudulent streams of Drake’s music.”

According to the lawsuit, paying for fraudulent streams was an attempt to “manufacture popularity, denigrate music label competitors and executives, distort recommendation algorithms, and distribute funding for all of the above, while concealing the flow of funds.”

The suit also claims that Drake’s alleged involvement in inflating his streams with fraudulent numbers only harms other artists in the industry. “This manipulation removed authentic artists and restricted consumers’ access to legitimate content by undermining the integrity of curated experiences,” the documents state.

Drake has been open about his love for the gaming platform, which isn’t surprising, as he would have signed a $100 million-a-year deal in 2023 to promote the business online.

After news of the trial became public, social media users shared stunned reactions, with one user writing: “Drake was hit with a RICO and this was announced on the first day of 2026, it’s just wow.” Another user joked that Drake would soon be heading to “cell block one,” a reference to the lyrics of Lamar’s hit “Not Like Us.”

However, other users came to the rapper’s defense, with one saying the lawsuit was brought by two women who weren’t able to hold each other accountable. “Even a person with a low IQ knows that online gambling requires real money,” they write. Another added: “Imagine suing because you can’t stand losing your bread.”