Drake Clashes with Stake: Real Rift or Marketing Ploy?

Few influencers have garnered more attention than Canadian hip hop legend Drake in recent years.  The vast social media pull of the rapper has been a vital ingredient in the guerrilla marketing strategy employed to great effect by the superstar in collaboration with online crypto casino platform Stake. The aim: to elevate Stake’s brand exposure by any available means.

The global music icon was reported by The Financial Times in 2023 to earn $100 million per year from his partnership with the online casino, and one can safely surmise that that hefty sum has grown.

Quote

Stay up to date with the latest crypto casino news, celebrity gambling stories, and exclusive bonus offers by joining the GamblersPick Community.

The Feud with Ed Craven

Drake has had a much-publicised fallout with streaming platform Kick and online casino Stake’s co-founder, Ed Craven. The rapper has been affiliated with Kick since 2022, streaming his gambling events on Stake. 

On August 18th, Drizzy stepped into TrainweckTV’s chat and called Kick co-founder Craven a “snake” and a “goof’ and went on to suggest that the platform owners profited while creators like him were undervalued.  

Adin Ross, during a boxing conference stream with Kick and Stake, revealed that the rapper had expressed an interest in fighting Ed Craven in a boxing ring, quoting Drake as saying:

Quote

“All my life I’ll fight for free, I wanna fight Eddy and you fight Bijan.”

Bijan “B” Tehrani is the co-founder of the Kick streaming platform, alongside Ed Craven.

Later during the conference, Ross then went on to put an unnamed person, believed to be Drake, on the loudspeaker during a call, who said:

Quote

“I’ll fight these guys in Walmart, brother. Let me know.”

 Drake’s Kick Account Deleted

Drake has publicly criticised Kick CEO Ed Craven for disrespecting his fans and not allowing streamers to make money through affiliate marketing. 

Since expressing his frustration with the folks behind the two brands, Drake’s Kick live streaming account was deleted; however, it is unclear whether this was an action taken by the rapper or Kick’s own initiative. Either way, Drake claims he won’t stream on the platform again.

The hip hop star said on Trainwreck’s chat that the situation with the platform was “the good old memory misplace.” He claimed that streamers made the platform successful, but failed to gain proper recognition, adding that he was never allowed to push affiliates.

 Drake is Still Betting with Stake?

Drake continues to bet big with Stake, despite the public fallout with the platform’s owners, who have declined to comment, and his Instagram still features a link to the site even though he complained that the company was refusing to allow him to withdraw funds. 

The music icon nonchalantly gambled $300,000 on Jannik Sinner to win the US Open, posting the betslip on Instagram displaying its potential payout of $507,000 if successful. But all that glitters isn’t always gold, and the “ Drake curse” reared its ugly head once again with the Italian outright favourite Sinner losing in four sets to Carlos Alcaraz.

Whether this feud is real or contrived as another in a series of marketing stunts is open to speculation, but the adage remains true: ‘Ain’t no such thing as bad publicity.’