Drake, the rapper, has been accused of playing with the house money after posting an $8 million loss over the weekend. The artist is heavily involved with Stake, an online gambling platform that’s quickly become a powerhouse.
However, DJ Vlad, a YouTuber who shoots interviews with various musicians, is claiming that Drake’s losses aren’t what they seem. According to Vlad, Drake’s losses aren’t actually real and are all part of whatever deal Stake signed him onto.
Drake is lying about taking $8M in losses on Stake.
I spoke to someone high up in the gambling business about it. Drake is a part owner of Stake, so when he makes these public “bets” he is really just using house money to make them. This is proven by the odds never changing…
— DJ Vlad (@djvlad) June 20, 2025
Drake’s deal with Stake has been murky at best, with only secondhand information and a lot of use of the word “reportedly”. According to reports, it’s worth $100 million, while some suspect it’s increased to $180 million. So far, the deal appears to be the occasional appearance on streaming platform Kick, backed by Stake, and to promote gambling.
Vlad’s accusations may have some merit, in that he’s noticed that the betting odds don’t shift when Drake places large bets. Typically, when someone places hundreds of thousands of dollars on one wager, the odds will dramatically shift to reflect that.
Drake promoting gambling might be a deeper issue
It’s theorized by one user that Stake’s goal here is to market to a younger audience, while everyone involved profits in some capacity. Whenever Drake has appeared on stream alongside larger gamblers, such as Adin Ross or the XQC, they have glamorized the bets. In a recent piece on Pitchfork, Drake was described as giving motivational speeches around it.
In February of this year, Drake apparently was caught off guard by a drone filming him in his penthouse. A laptop on the table was facing towards the camera with Stake open. He was accused of undisclosed advertising, an issue Stake has previously been accused of.
