Drake Faces Lawsuit for ‘Glamorizing’ a ‘Fraudulent’ Gambling App

Photo Credit: Adin Ross & Drake (YouTube)

Drake faces a class action lawsuit over his involvement with an online casino and betting platform, engaging in “deceptive, fraudulent” practices.

Just a few weeks after Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group was dismissed, the Canadian rapper finds himself embroiled in another legal battle, this time not of his own doing. He’s one of the defendants in a class action lawsuit centering on the online casino and sports betting platform Stake—the largest crypto-backed online casino in the world.

Justin Killham of Independence, Missouri, is the lead plaintiff suing Drake, streamer Adin Ross, and sweepstakes casino Stake.us. The defendants allegedly engaged in “deceptive, fraudulent, and unfair” practices that misled the public in violation of Missouri law.

In his lawsuit, filed on Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court, Killham says Sweepsteaks Limited, which also operates Stake.com, created Stake.us as “a virtual clone” of the former, “rebranded to mislead Missouri regulators and consumers into believing it offers harmless gameplay” instead of being “an unlawful” gambling platform.

Stake.us uses a dual-currency system; users pay to purchase tokens with which to gamble, rather than using cash directly. This system, according to the lawsuit, is a way for Stake to obfuscate illegal gambling with “a superficial disguise of social gaming.”

Specifically, the lawsuit calls out influencer Adin Ross and Drake, who are paid millions to promote Stake in their livestreams. The class action alleges that these promotions target teenagers and young people, who cannot legally gamble. Further, “when Ross and Drake purport to gamble online with Stake […] they often do not do so with their own money, despite telling the public […] the opposite.”

In an interesting wrinkle, Drake himself has been none too happy with Stake. In August, he accused the company of repeatedly blocking him from withdrawing funds. The rapper also closed his account on streaming platform Kick, which is owned by Stake’s Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, amid the fallout with Stake.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit similar to the one filed in Missouri against Stake and Kick has been underway in California since August. Lawsuits like these are reminiscent of other legal action in recent years involving celebrities promoting questionable cryptocurrency and associated platforms.