Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well. I also hope you're ready for another episode of Why is this a thing that is connected to the music industry? What the hell is going on? This shouldn't even be a topic.

Yeah, that's the name of this show. Because now somehow, one of the latest and biggest headlines to come out of the music industry right now is a class action lawsuit that Drake has been rounded up in along with streamer Adin Ross because of their spokesmanship and commercial advertisement of the online gambling platform known as Stake, which on this channel, we have talked about a lot of different aspects of Drake's career and fame over the last several years, be it stuff dealing directly with his music or the promotion of it or his beef with Kendrick Lamar.

And of course, even the lawsuit that came out as a result of that beef, which update on that – apparently, Drake and his team are planning to do an appeal on it. I guess I'll dive deeper into that whenever that's necessary.

And Stake, believe it or not, has actually been a growing part of Aubrey's brand over the last year or so, with him not only regularly participating in these boring, stupid, mind-numbing gambling live streams where him or Adin Ross or whoever the hell is around him at the time, are just dumping hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars down the toilet on slots or whatever bullshit online gambling games they're being paid to promote.

Okay. Anyway, for a while, Stake was like dipping its toes into the water of promoting their platform through Drake. And now the two have become almost inseparable at this point, not only due to those gambling streams becoming more frequent, but also at this point, there's like an untold number of posts on Drake's Instagram promoting Stake and online gambling, always trying to find a way to up the energy. Bigger wins, bigger screams. And the nefariousness of this becomes more apparent the further you dig into it, because what Drake is doing here isn't just merely giving a nod to some popular online, legit all above board casino.

Stake isn't just merely a formal casino; they're one of these platforms that mixes the purchase of stake – cash, coins, whatever the fuck – as a signifier for money. And apparently the money, the coins, the credits that Stake users are applying to actually do these bets is exchanged in, of course, cryptocurrency, which, due to the lack of regulation around cryptocurrency, creates a situation where streamers and pedalers of platforms like Stake can essentially pitch this stuff to younger viewers, really getting those gambling addicts started early. And of course, given the crypto tie in, there is going to naturally be a lack of transparency on platforms like this.

I mean, as recently as August, Drake himself was beefing online with Stake because apparently, according to him, he couldn't withdraw his money from the platform. Now, another deceptive element to this whole Drake-Stake tie-in is that despite Drake being paid over $100 million annually to promote these guys, and this here is according to reporting, the money that he's actually using to gamble during these streams or promotional segments may not even be his, but is instead house allotted cash that he's given to essentially throw around for the stream, for the promo, for the presentation of itself.

So of course, this guy is flushing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, down the toilet with glee for massive hits and big bucks because the whole thing is just this fake, bullshit, inauthentic ad where he's not even burning his own money, which, of course, when that's the case, the people watching you, when they have not been fully briefed on the fact that this money may have just been given to you to basically burn, they're just seeing the glee and effortlessness with which you're using it all up, thinking of themselves doing the same.

Need we also mention statistics here that people who are caught up in extremely devastating gambling losses and addiction are way more likely than most to actually consider suicide.

I understand the whole personal responsibility argument and all that, and Drake at the end of the day, isn't at gunpoint forcing anybody to throw all their cash away on various bets on stake. I do really think Drake's willingness to tie himself so closely to stake in this way signifies an outright disrespect toward his audience, or maybe rather a lack of care and consideration, especially when you consider a great majority of these people on the internet were literally too stupid to understand how dumb this lawsuit just was that he got dismissed.

I don't know. Maybe this is mean for me to say. But personally, I do think someone who is stupid enough to think that was a winning lawsuit is exactly the guy who would flush all of their money down the toilet gambling. And even if that person is an all-out idiot, they don't deserve deserve to be completely shaken down on a digital roulette wheel.

But, Drake has now been rounded up in a Missouri class action lawsuit, along with streamer Adin Ross. Why is this lawsuit happening in Missouri, you may ask? Well, the thing is, in Missouri, online casinos are not legal.

Stake is essentially trying to sidestep this by referring to itself as a social casino where bets are being made with stake cash. However, as the lawsuit states, every dollar spent buys players an equivalent amount of stake cash, plus an enormous quantity of nearly worthless gold coins. Despite defendants' claim that players are purchasing harmless virtual tokens, the pricing structure and gameplay reveal that Stake cash, not gold coins, is the real product Stake is selling to entice players into engaging in real money gambling. The gold coins merely serve to deceive regulators and lure players under the guise of safe entertainment.

The lawsuit further explains Stake's dual currency system here. Although Stake.com openly operates as the largest online casino in the world, it is barred from offering real money gambling to consumers in the United States. To circumvent this prohibition, Stake created Stake US, a nearly identical clone of Stake.com that is rebranded as a free-to-play social casino. Unlike at Stake.com, Stake prominently represents that at the Stake.us platform and games do not offer real money gambling, this construct relies entirely on the dual currency system intentionally designed to obscure the fact that players are engaging in real money gambling.

Now, as I said earlier, the lawsuit states that by law, games such as those offered online through Stake are legal in Missouri. They've attached a public service announcement about this in the lawsuit itself, and even goes on to describe how Stake is essentially flooding social media and paying influencers to get its site in the faces of Missouri residents. And page 21 of the lawsuit is really where it starts to describe Drake's involvement with Stake, specifically, saying, "Stake's most prominent partner is the internationally famous rapper and defendant, Drake, whose public wagering of enormous sums on Stake.com has created what industry experts call the 'Drake Effect,' massively boosting the Stake brand's popularity, especially among younger impressionable audiences who admire Drake's glamorous lifestyle. Drake is also directly sponsored by both Stake.us and Stake.com, which prominently feature him on their web pages, strategically using his celebrity influence to encourage impressionable users to gamble."

For shame, Drake. For shame.

Drake's involvement is further described on Stake.com as a journey from a player to a partner, and touts Drake's livestream giveaways and rewards, as well as his Stake history in the making. Wow, he looks so cool.

The lawsuit even argues that Stake getting the prominent placement it has on Drake's own Instagram page gives it the visibility that elevates it far beyond the typical worldwide web platform. And here we even have screenshots shots and depictions of these boring-ass gambling live streams that Drake does with Adin Ross. Of course, over on Kik, no less.

Now, whether or not from here, Drake continues to ride for Stake remains to be seen, I guess. This lawsuit here may cause him to think twice. But who knows? If the repercussions of this suit aren't that great and Stake keeps paying out, maybe he will continue Anita Max Win, because the tour he did was a reference to the gambling.

But yeah, I guess I'll start to close this up by saying, I hope none of you are dumb enough to throw all of your money away on a bunch of crypto gambling. There's most definitely better ways to spend your money. And hopefully, as a society, we don't go any further down this weird ass rabbit hole.

Okay, never mind. My hopes aren't high.

You're the best. I appreciate you watching. Love you a million.

Anthony Fantano, online gambling, for never.