Drake Down $1.5M in 2024 Sports Bets After Las Vegas Grand Prix Loss

Hip-hop star Drake has now lost five of his last six publicly shared sports bets after he put $210,000 in Bitcoin on Charles Leclerc to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Drake is fancying Charles Leclerc to win in Vegas ?#F1 #CharlesLeclerc #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/peERLZEHr4

— Sportskeeda F1 (@SportskeedaF1) November 24, 2024

George Russell was victorious Sunday morning, while Leclerc finished fourth.

This is far from the first time that Drake has lost out on big bets. In fact, it has happened so many times now that fans have coined the term "The Drake Curse." But is there any truth behind the rumors that the hip-hop star's bets put a curse on some of the world’s best sports stars? 

Drake + Stake

Drake announced a partnership with Stake.com, which operates almost exclusively in cryptocurrency, in 2022. Since then, most of Drake's public sports bets have been made on that platform and shared on his social media channels.

He's listed on the company's website as a long-time member of their community and a player "storming the high ranks" of their VIP program.

The bets behind 'The Drake Curse'

Last weekend, Drake risked $355,000 betting on Mike Tyson to beat Jake Paul in a boxing match, sharing a screenshot of the Stake betting slip on Instagram. Had Tyson been triumphant, Drake would have taken a payout of more than $1 million. But of course, it wasn’t to be. 

Drake’s recent bet on Tyson grabbed headlines, as did Paul’s reaction to the news that Drake had bet against him. But losses like these have definitely overshadowed some of Drake’s more recent wins. 

The day after his loss on the Tyson vs. Paul fight, the artist was triumphant with a $450,000 bet on Jon Jones to defend his UFC heavyweight crown against Stipe Miocic. That bet brought in $954,000 total, and returned Drake to his current “not cursed” status. 

In June, Drake made $500,000 wagers on both the Dallas Mavericks at +175 and the Edmonton Oilers at +105 to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy and Stanley Cup, respectively. 

The total winnings from Drake’s bets on the Mavericks and Oilers would have been $2.4 million: a $1.375 million payout on the Mavericks and a $1.025 million win on the Oilers. But, unfortunately for him, the curse struck once again. 

Drake’s been far more successful in his predictions for some sports than others, though. Let’s take a closer look at how this alleged curse has played out across different sports. 

UFC brings Drake’s biggest win – and a huge loss

Based on the wagers he's made public, Drake has now bet a total of $12.7 million on the UFC, and has made a profit with a total return of $13.5 million. He has lost 14 times, but won nine. 

Undeterred by his losses, Drake continues to place huge bets on the UFC fights of the moment. In August, the hip-hop star was unlucky again, losing $450,000 when Israel Adesanya failed to beat Dricus Du Plessis. He would have taken $850,000 had he won. 

From the bottom of my heart once again
THANK YOU @Drake ? pic.twitter.com/bcSiOjGezd

— Dricus Du Plessis (@dricusduplessis) August 18, 2024

That’s not the first time Drake has lost betting on Adesanya, either. In November 2022, Drake’s biggest ever loss came when he bet on Adesanya to beat Alex Pereira at UFC 281. On that occasion, he lost $1.59 million. But a few months earlier, a bet on Adesanya to beat Jared Cannonier did win him $1 million. 

Drake’s biggest win also came in 2022. He staked $2.2 million on both Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann to win. With his $3.7 million winnings, he celebrated by presenting them both with new Rolex watches. 

Unfortunately, Drake has lost out when betting on UFC favorites on several occasions: notably Aljamain Sterling, Adesanya (three times), and Sean Strickland.

Drake wins $2.3M by Siding with the Swifties

Drake is no stranger to betting on the NFL. And while the curse has reared its ugly head on a few of these bets, the NFL is actually Drake’s most profitable sport, bringing in more than $2.1 million in winnings. 

One of Drake’s biggest NFL wins to date came in February, when the singer captioned a post sharing his Super Bowl bet with “I can't bet against the Swifties." His $1.15 million bet on the Kansas City Chiefs at +104 odds won him $1.196 million.

Drake reveals he has bet 1.15 MILLION in Bitcoin crypto currency for the Kansas City Chiefs’ win at this year’s Superbowl:

“I can’t bet against the swifties” pic.twitter.com/AqOjV9xtXv

— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 10, 2024

Drake has defeated the alleged curse with NFL bets on a number of other occasions, too. 

Drake placed a total of seven bets on Super Bowl LVII, between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. One of those bets was a $700,000 wager on Kansas City, which happened to be a winner. 

Drake also bet $1.1 million on the Chiefs to beat the Bengals in the AFC Championship in the same season.

In early 2022, the star famously bet $600,000 in crypto on the Los Angeles Rams to win Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals. He also came out on top with a $500,000 bet on a touchdown by Rams wideout Odell Beckham Jr. in the same game. On that occasion, his winnings totaled more than $1.4 million.

Battling the Curse (and losing) with boxing bets 

Drake’s boxing bets haven’t turned out quite as well as he might have hoped. Even while betting on favorites, the artist has suffered some incredibly high profile losses with his bets on the sport.

Overall, Drake is currently down by $1.3 million from his public boxing bets. He’s only won two of his last 10 bets on boxing matches.

Drake’s biggest boxing loss was a $615,000 bet on Francis Ngannou to beat Anthony Joshua in March. 

It has not been all bad news for Drake’s boxing bets, however. His best bet on the sport was his correct prediction that Logan Paul would win against Dillon Danis in October 2023. Danis was disqualified in the match, which saw Drake triumph. 

Is 'The Drake Curse' real? 

Talk of The Drake Curse shows no sign of slowing down, but analysis of Drake’s bets in recent years gives a slightly more positive picture. When we look at the data from all of Drake’s public sports bets to date, we can see that he is currently up $2 million. 

Drake’s winnings have taken a definite hit this year, however, leading many to suggest that the curse could be taking hold once again. The artist’s 2024 bets have brought in an overall loss of $1.59 million. Looking at his last 10 bets, he’s lost $2.1 million. 

Not all of Drake’s bets will have been shared publicly, of course. But of those that have, we can see that he’s bet at least $30.3 million in more than 70 bets. He’s won on a total of 26 occasions, which means his strike rate now sits at 28.9%. 

Cursed or not, the musician has definitely made a name for himself as a high roller. His average bet is a cool $433,000 - and many have been far higher than that. He’s now placed nine bets over $1 million. 

Will Drake’s next bets cement his position as the high roller of hip-hop, or confirm the existence of The Drake Curse for good?

Drake's sports bets from 2022-23

– With info from TheDrakeCurse.com

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