Okay, this one took me a second to wrap my head around, so please, stay with me.
Drake is facing another class-action lawsuit. This one was filed in Virginia, where two consumers allege the rap superstar played a central role in a scheme involving illegal online gambling and artificial inflation of music streams.
According to the lawsuit, Drake worked alongside streamer Adin Ross and Australian national George Nguyen in what plaintiffs describe as a coordinated effort to profit from a legally murky gambling platform while simultaneously boosting Drake’s Spotify numbers through bot-driven manipulation. Rolling Stone reports the case frames the alleged activity as a racketeering conspiracy designed to enrich those involved while exploiting consumers.
At the center of the complaint is Stake.us, a gambling platform that operates using a dual-currency system. Users purchase virtual credits with real money, gamble with those credits, and can later convert winnings back into cash. Critics argue the system functions as a loophole, allowing real-money gambling to exist under the guise of play money. That gray area has already drawn legislative attention, including a bill signed last year by California Governor Gavin Newsom aimed at cracking down on such models.
Drake and Ross are accused of acting as high-profile promoters for Stake, regularly appearing in live-streamed gambling sessions and offering giveaways that encouraged participation. The lawsuit claims they were compensated for their visibility and influence, effectively drawing users into what plaintiffs call a predatory gambling ecosystem.
The legal strategy goes further than standard consumer protection claims. The suit invokes the federal RICO statute, alleging the group functioned as an ongoing enterprise dating back to 2022. Central to that claim is Stake’s internal tipping feature, which the plaintiffs argue was used as an unregulated channel to move funds between Drake, Ross, and Nguyen without meaningful oversight.
Those funds, the complaint alleges, were then routed into artificial “amplification campaigns.” This includes the use of automated bots and streaming farms to inflate Drake’s play counts on platforms like Spotify. According to the lawsuit, this activity distorted music discovery, crowded out legitimate artists, and undermined the integrity of curated playlists and recommendations.
Nguyen is described as the operational connector. The suit claims he received cryptocurrency payments via Stake, coordinated with bot vendors, and helped execute streaming and social media campaigns across platforms including X. He is also identified as running an Instagram-based music news account that allegedly played a role in shaping online narratives.
This is not the first time Drake has been pulled into litigation tied to gambling promotions or streaming manipulation. A similar class-action lawsuit was filed in Missouri last October against Drake, Ross, and Stake’s parent company. That case has since been moved into federal court.
The streaming allegations also mirror claims made in a separate lawsuit filed in November 2025 against Spotify itself. In that case, Long Beach rapper RBX alleges that a significant portion of Drake’s reported 37 billion Spotify streams were generated by bots, siphoning royalties away from real artists. That suit is seeking more than $5 million in damages.
As with all pending litigation, the allegations remain unproven. But taken together, the lawsuits paint a picture of mounting legal pressure around the intersection of celebrity influence, online gambling, and the economics of modern music streaming.
Damn, right??
