A United States civil case accuses Drake and American livestreamer Adin Ross of using online casino money to pay for automated streams. The goal was to artificially boost the singer’s royalties and popularity on music platforms. No one faces criminal charges related to the allegations in the lawsuit.
Stake, a global e-casino has dismissed the claims as nonsense. It also said it was not concerned about the lawsuit.
The celebrities, along with another Australian internet personality and two women from Virginia, have filed a class action seeking US$5 million from Stake.com. They allege the e-casino breached Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws and consumer protection regulations.
A Curacao-licensed global e-casino, Stake.com, faces official restrictions in dozens of countries. These include the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Stake.us, its American arm, does not let users to gamble directly with real money. Wagerers use e-tokens, with some given for free and others that they can buy and withdraw as cryptocurrency.
Filed recently, the class action alleges that Stake.us’s anonymized design allowed Drake to fund purchases of automated streams. This, the lawsuit claims, artificially inflated his royalties and popularity on music streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Court documents allege Drake and Ross hid the financing from public view through transferring gambling winnings through the anonymized tip system of Stake to an Australian man, named in court documents as George Nguyen, who allegedly operates the online accounts grandwizardchatn**** and Grandavious.
Recently, a spokesperson of Stake said on US time that for the record, Stake.us does not have a tipping function that could be used in this way. This is a nonsense claim and they are not concerned about this lawsuit.
Nguyen posted promoting Drake, as well as the gambling platform. He allegedly traded between the Stake proceeds, cash, and cryptocurrency. He used the funds to pay bot vendors for artificial music streams on behalf of Drake and Ross.
