Drake accused of using an online gambling platform to inflate play counts of his music

Superstar rapper Drake is facing a federal class-action lawsuit alleging he used the online sweepstakes casino Stake.us to artificially boost the play counts of his music on platforms like Spotify. The lawsuit claims Drake, along with influencer Adin Ross and George Nguyen, employed bots and streaming farms to “manufacture popularity” and distort music charts. They allegedly used Stake.us’s internal transfer features to conceal the financial transactions involved in this scheme.

Drake is a brand ambassador for both Stake.us and Stake.com, with a reported deal worth at least $100 million annually. The lawsuit also names Stake.us and its parent company, Sweepstakes Limited, as defendants, arguing that Stake.us was designed to circumvent U.S. gambling regulations. This isn't the first legal challenge; similar lawsuits have been filed in Missouri and New Mexico, alleging the promotion of illegal online gambling.

Adin Ross has publicly dismissed the lawsuits as false, and NBC News has reached out to Drake, Ross, and Stake for comment. The case is currently unfolding in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, with no criminal charges filed to date. The timing of the lawsuit coincides with Drake’s preparation for the release of his new album, “Iceman.”

(Source：NBC News)