Drake Accused of Manipulating Streaming Play Counts With Bots in New Lawsuit

Drake’s relationship with the web “social on line casino” Stake.us is dealing with contemporary authorized scrutiny. The rapper has been named in a federal lawsuit that claims he helped promote an unlawful real-money on-line on line casino and used it to quietly transfer cash tied to a scheme geared toward artificially boosting music streaming numbers.

Plaintiffs LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines filed a class action lawsuit final week in a federal courtroom in Virginia in opposition to Stake.us’s guardian firm, Sweepsteaks Restricted, in addition to Drake, on-line streamer Adin Ross, and George Nguyen, an alleged facilitator of the botting scheme.

The lawsuit claims the defendants misrepresented Stake whereas being paid to put it on the market, inflicting “hurt on shoppers throughout the Commonwealth who’ve misplaced actual cash chasing playing wins on the Stake platform.”

It additionally accuses Drake, Ross, and Nguyen of transferring “cash between and amongst themselves, utilizing Stake’s ‘Tipping’ program.”

The plaintiffs allege the conduct violates the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and Virginia shopper safety legal guidelines. The plaintiffs are asking for not less than $5 million, together with refunds for customers, the return of earnings they are saying had been improperly earned, courtroom orders to cease the alleged conduct, and extra damages underneath federal regulation.

“Stake.us preys on shoppers in Virginia and nationwide who’re lured into actual cash playing, exposing shoppers to substantial dangers of playing addictions and jeopardizing their and their households’ monetary well-being,” the lawsuit claims.

A serious crux of the case facilities on how Stake.us operates. The corporate describes itself as a social on line casino the place customers can purchase what it calls “Gold Cash” to play digital on line casino video games like slots and poker. These cash can’t be redeemed for money, however customers additionally obtain “Stake Money” by way of bundled purchases of Gold Cash, every day login bonuses, and promotions.

As soon as customers meet sure circumstances, like wagering their Stake Money a number of occasions, it may be redeemed for actual cash. The lawsuit argues this construction makes Stake.us indistinguishable from real-money on-line playing, which is against the law in Virginia and lots of different states.

The grievance additionally alleges Drake and Ross had been paid by Stake to advertise the location and took part in livestreams exhibiting them playing with giant sums of cash offered by the corporate itself.

“In different phrases, although Drake and Ross presupposed to be playing with their very own Stake Money, it was actually offered to them by the home,” the lawsuit reads.

Drake signed an endorsement take care of Stake in 2022 that was reportedly price $100 million per year. Drake later publicly complained about points withdrawing cash from the platform, although an Instagram post from October indicated that the meat might have since been squashed.

Past the playing allegations, the lawsuit additional claims Drake, Ross, and Nguyen transferred proceeds amongst themselves through Stake’s tipping function and used that cash to fund bots that artificially boosted Drake’s music streaming numbers on platforms like Spotify.

This isn’t the primary lawsuit difficult Drake’s relationship with Stake.us. A separate complaint filed in October in Missouri additionally names Drake and Ross as defendants and equally accuses them of misrepresenting Stake.us’s alleged playing operations.

Stake.us and representatives for Drake didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s requests for remark.