Canadian rapper Drake has been hit with a class action lawsuit that alleges he’s promoted an online illegal casino and proceeds to artificially inflate his streaming numbers
Drake has been hit with a RICO lawsuit alleging that he promoted an online illegal casino and used proceeds from the site to artificially inflate streams of his own music. The lawsuit, filed on December 31, claims that he used the tipping feature on Stake.us to obfuscate money transmissions related to streaming music botting campaigns.
Also named in the case is popular streamer Adin Ross and Australian George Nguyen.
The lawsuit reads: “At the heart of the scheme, Drake – acting directly and through willing and knowledgeable co-conspirators – has deployed automated bots and streaming farms to artificially inflate play counts of his music across major platforms, such as Spotify.
“These inauthentic streams, injected via interstate digital pathways, were calibrated to mislead royalty and recommendation engines; manufacture popularity; distort playlists and charts; and divert both value and audience attention. In tandem, this manipulation has suppressed authentic artists and narrowed consumers’ access to legitimate content by undermining the integrity of curated experiences.”
The website Stake.us was created and marketed as a “social casino” that bars real money gambling” as users wager virtual money, however the suit alleges that language was meant to dupe regulators and consumers and that it can in fact be cashed in by users for cryptocurrency, amounting to real gambling.
The complaint states: “Through these and other promotions, Stake has bombarded consumers with advertisements appearing on social media platforms, depicting its games as safe, legal, and fun.
“But these casino games are illegal in Virginia and throughout the United States, and have inflicted harm on consumers across the Commonwealth who have lost real money chasing gambling wins on the Stake platform.”
It states that Drake and Ross were paid to promote the platform by participating in livestreamed gambling with cash “surreptitiously” provided by Stake.
This comes after a judge dismissed Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us – Which gained traction following his Super Bowl performance.
Drake’s lawyers accused the record label of launching “a campaign to create a viral hit” out of a song that made the “false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response”.
Drake is yet to comment on the new lawsuit against himself.
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