Drake, Adin Ross accused of promoting illegal gambling on Stake.us
Lawsuit alleges Stake.us used to fund 'music botting' to inflate Drake's streams
Multiple lawsuits filed against Drake, Stake.us in Missouri, New Mexico
Drake is making headlines amid accusations that he’s involved in a gambling scheme and used an online platform to inflate music streams. The latter of the allegations sounds similar to the ones Lawbrey levied against a certain Compton emcee whose battle-winning Drizzy diss got Grammys.
Source: Cole Burston / Getty
According to USA Today, Drake, Adin Ross, and George Nguyen are accused in a federal class-action lawsuit of promoting illegal gambling while artificially inflating Drake’s streaming numbers.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 31, comes via Virginia residents LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines, as well as all users of Stake.us, which plaintiffs describe as the U.S.-facing version of the offshore gambling site Stake.com.
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According to the complaint, Stake.us operates as “one of the largest and most profitable illegal online casinos” in the country, allegedly designed to sidestep U.S. gambling laws after Stake.com was barred from operating nationwide.
While Stake.us markets itself as a “social casino” that prohibits real-money gambling, plaintiffs allege that branding was “intended to mislead both regulators and consumers.” The site is said to use virtual currencies called “Stake Cash” and “Gold Coins,” but the lawsuit claims Stake Cash carries real monetary value and can be exchanged for cryptocurrency, effectively amounting to illegal gambling.
According to the filing reviewed by USA Today, Drake and Ross were paid promoters of the platform and participated in livestreamed gambling sessions using funds allegedly supplied by Stake without public disclosure. The lawsuit claims those promotions helped portray the platform as safe, legal, and recreational, despite online gambling being illegal in Virginia and many other states.
The lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages and aims to represent Virginia residents who lost wagers using Stake Cash within the last three years
Drake Is Accused Of Using Stake.Us For “Music Botting”
In the biggest twist of the lawsuit, it also accuses Drake and his alleged collaborators of using proceeds from Stake.us to fund what plaintiffs describe as coordinated “music botting campaigns.”
The complaint alleges that the tools on the platform were used to “obscure the movement of money while financing automated bots and streaming farms” designed to inflate Drake’s play counts across major platforms, including Spotify. Lawyers for the plaintiffs claim Drake was “at the heart of the scheme,” acting directly and through associates to manipulate digital music metrics.
As pointed out by HipHopWired, this is especially rich because Drake Karen-ly claimed that UMG (Universal Music Group) and Kendrick Lamar used bots to boost the numbers of Lamar’s Drake diss record “Not Like Us.” We reported in November that Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC alleged that UMG deployed an illegal “scheme” using corrupt methods to ensure that the slanderous track dominated streaming services.
“It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, ‘Not Like Us,’ in order to make that song go viral, including by using ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements,” the filing from Drizzy’s lawyers stated at the time, claiming UMG charged Spotify 30 percent less than its usual licensing rates in exchange for Spotify pushing recommendations for “Not Like Us” to “users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists.”
Uno reverse, anyone?
Drake And Adin Ross Are Facing Allegations Tied To Stake.Us In Missouri & New Mexico
This is not the first time Drake and Adin Ross have faced legal trouble concerning Stake.us.
NBC News reports that multiple lawsuits are accusing them of promoting illegal online gambling.
One case, filed Oct. 27, 2025, in Missouri’s Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges the platform operates as a deceptive doppelgänger of Stake.com, rebranded to masquerade as harmless gameplay while skirting state gambling laws.
Days later, Drake and Ross were also named in a similar suit filed in New Mexico’s 2nd Judicial District Court, where online gambling is also illegal.
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the allegations against Drake and the other defendants.
