No one saw this coming for the new year: Drake and Adin Ross have both been hit with an RICO over their promotion of Stake.
The Toronto rapper, who isn’t shy about sharing his gambling exploits on his Instagram account, and Doechii-hating streamer were both named in a federal class-action lawsuit that was filed in Virginia on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
It claims Stake is “operating as one of the largest and most profitable illegal online casinos” dating back to 2022.
According to the plaintiffs, LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines, they claim that Stake hoodwinks and bamboozles consumers while allowing real money betting in the guise of virtual currency play.
Per the platform’s advertisements, it “does not offer real money gambling.” At the same time, “no purchase or payment is necessary to participate or play [Stake] games,” while providing users “the ultimate social, safe and free gaming experience.”
The complaint tells a different story, calling all the statements about the platform false by pointing out that users can buy Gold Coins bundled with Stake Cash, which they can cash out for U.S. currency.
The lawsuit accuses Drake and Ross of being “zealous” and “paid” promoters of Stake, who “mask the true nature and extent of their conduct.”
An excerpt for the lawsuit further details Drake and Ross’ involvement, claiming “The two have engaged in live-streamed gambling, wagering large sums of money that was provided surreptitiously by Stake. In other words, though Drake and Ross purported to be gambling with their own Stake Cash, it was in fact provided to them by the house.”
Drake Was Also Allegedly Using Stake To Purchase Bots
In a hilarious twist, the lawsuit claims that Drake, Ross, and an alleged accomplice, George Nguyen, used the platform’s “tipping” system to funnel large sums of money, including a $100,000 tip between Drake and Ross, which was public, to fund “artificial streaming (‘botting’) to create fraudulent streams of Drake’s music,” to fabricate popularity; disparage competitors and music label executives; distort recommendation algorithms; and distribute financing for all of the foregoing, while concealing the flow of funds.”
Now, if that sounds familiar, Drake accused UMG (Universal Music Group) and Kendrick Lamar of cooking the books and using bots to boost the numbers of Lamar’s uber-popular Drake diss record “Not Like Us.”
This situation is going to be a fascinating case because Drake reportedly signed a $100 million endorsement deal with Stake in 2022 and was also named as a defendant in two other Stake-related lawsuits that were filed in October 2025.
Plus, there are still Stake-related posts on Drizzy’s IG page.
Ross was also named as a defendant in those October lawsuits, and called them “fucking bullshit” during a livestream.
Yikes.
You know social media has been chiming in on the situation, and they are roasting both Drake and Ross.
