Canadian rapper Drake is well known for, among other things, being a keen online casino player, and in one night’s play earlier this month he experienced the highs and the lows of the casino player’s experience. The “Hotline Bling” hitmaker is well known as a member of the crypto-based online casino Stake, and on the 11th of July he popped in to spend an evening at the roulette table.
His experience there was, let’s say, somewhat different from the typical player’s. His first spin saw him add $5.73 million to his net worth, and further wins saw this amount rise to $12 million. By the time his takings reached their height thanks to a jackpot win, his winnings for the night stood at $27 million.
You might think that if you reached that point, you’d consider it a good night’s playing and bank that money. Apparently, Drake is built differently, because he continued to play. Those who followed his night’s gaming on the rapper’s Twitch stream were encouraged to take part in giveaways which involved him handing out $25,000 a time to lucky winners. All the while, he continued playing, winning at some points and losing at others. By the end of the stream, between these giveaways and unfortunate spins, his bankroll had shrunk to less than $2,000.
An ordinary gamer who experienced a night like that might well find themselves swearing off casino gaming for life. Then again, it’s reasonable to argue that an ordinary gamer wouldn’t have access to a stake that would win $5.73 million on a single roulette spin. Drake is understood to have wealth in the amount of close to $250 million, which means that while losses of more than $25 million aren’t exactly a good thing, they’re bearable for him – especially when that was money he had already won that same evening. The awe-inspiring wins and vertiginous losses may also have a deeper reason behind them; there are those who believe that Drake’s propensity to win and lose big at the casino is all part of some effort to drive up publicity, although there is nothing to prove that. It certainly doesn’t hurt his high-roller reputation to experience a night like the one Drake had a few weeks ago, but a few more nights of a similar nature certainly won’t deter the skeptics.