TORONTO — Drake is facing another legal battle in 2026.
The Toronto rapper has been named as part of a U.S. class action lawsuit which alleges he, and other individuals, used proceeds from a gambling website to “obscure transmissions of money,” which were then used to artificially inflate his streaming music play counts.
The suit centres around Stake.us, the name of the U.S. website for the Curaçao-based online casino operator, which Drake often promotes on his social media profiles.
Among the claims, the suit says Drake and social media influencer Adin Ross are paid to promote the platform by gambling with virtual currencies that are “surreptitiously” provided by Stake.
The suit alleges that Drake and the other defendants use Stake’s features to “directly transfer money between and among themselves” without oversight from a regulator, with some of the money used to “to create fraudulent streams of Drake’s music; fabricate popularity … (and) distort recommendation algorithms.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and representatives for Drake and Stake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The suit was filed on Dec. 31, 2025 in a Virginia court on behalf of LaShawnna Ridley, Tiffany Hines and names all users of Stake.us as plaintiffs.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2026.
David Friend, The Canadian Press
