How affiliate restrictions, blocked withdrawals, and a power shift turned crypto gambling’s biggest partnership into its messiest breakup.
Imagine getting paid $100 million a year to gamble on camera. Now imagine getting so furious at your employer that you publicly call their CEO a “snake,” delete your account, and offer to fight him at Walmart. Welcome to the most expensive temper tantrum in streaming history—and unlike most celebrity meltdowns, this one has receipts.
The $100 Million Honeymoon (2021-2022)
The story begins in late 2021, when Drake started appearing on Stake.com as a regular player—not as an ambassador, just a guy who really liked spinning digital roulette wheels. He climbed the ranks of Stake’s VIP program, and the platform noticed. Here was one of the world’s most famous entertainers, organically gambling on their site.
By March 2022, the inevitable happened. Ed Craven, Stake’s Australian co-founder (net worth: $4.51 billion, mansion purchase price: exactly $80,000,088—yes, that extra $88 was intentional), announced an official partnership. Drake would promote Stake, stream on their platform Kick, and receive a reported $100 million annually. That’s $273,972 per day to do what most of us get lectured about at Thanksgiving.
“Drake has been an active member of our global community for a few months now. We share the same love for crypto, gambling, and community.”
— Ed Craven, Stake Co-founder
Drake called the partnership “inevitable.” His first stream hit 250,000 concurrent viewers. By 2024, that number had grown to 440,000. The partnership was printing money for everyone.
Stake Becomes a Monster (2022-2024)
With Drake and fellow streamer Trainwreck as their celebrity faces, Stake exploded. The platform processed $15.3 billion in deposits in 2025 alone, commanding an estimated 54-59% of the entire crypto gambling market. They sponsored an F1 team, slapped their logo on Everton FC, and became the dominant force in online crypto betting.
“Before I touched them, they’d been around for five years, and they were nowhere relative to real success. Then I joined, and instantly they became number one.”
— Trainwreck
Drake could say the same. These streamers didn’t just promote Stake—they built it into a cultural phenomenon. But here’s the thing about power dynamics: once you’ve grown past needing someone, the “reality changes,” as Trainwreck would later observe.
The Affiliate Lockout (Early 2025)
The first major crack came quietly: Stake began restricting Drake’s ability to “push affiliate.” In gambling streaming, affiliate links are sacred—they let creators earn money by referring new players. For Drake, who built an entire ecosystem around his OVO (October’s Very Own) brand, this wasn’t just about Stake revenue. It was Stake cutting off his ability to monetize his own audience independently.
Drake was being paid to bring millions of viewers to Stake, but he couldn’t share his own referral links with those same viewers. He was being forced to be a one-way promotional tool rather than an equal partner.
The $8 Million Wake-Up Call (June 2025)
In June 2025, Drake did something unusual: he showed his losses. On Instagram, visible to his 142 million followers, he posted a screenshot showing $125 million wagered in one month—and $8.2 million lost.
“Losses are so fried right now. I hope I can post a big win for you all soon cause I’m the only one that has never seen a max these guys max once a week.”
— Drake on Instagram
That last line is crucial. In gambling streamer world, a “max” is hitting the maximum jackpot on a slot—the holy grail moment. Drake was publicly noting that while other Stake streamers seemed to hit these jackpots regularly, he remained conspicuously unlucky.
The next day, he posted something more alarming:
“When I realized that gambling addiction is a lie made up by platforms like Stake to prevent you from winning their money.”
— Drake on Instagram
This wasn’t just venting—this was a man questioning whether the game was fair.
The Withdrawal Freeze (August 2025)
Then came the financial squeeze. Drake posted a screenshot of a Stake customer service exchange showing four separate withdrawal attempts—all blocked. We’re not talking small amounts. These were multi-million dollar sums, frozen without explanation.
“4 withdraw attempts blocked on @stake with no explanation. Is it personal?”
— Drake to his 142 million Instagram followers
That question—”Is it personal?”—suggests Drake suspected Stake was deliberately holding his money as leverage. Stake never publicly responded. But for Drake, the message was clear: the platform he’d helped build into a $15 billion operation was now treating him like a problem to be managed.
The Public Explosion (August 18, 2025)
The affiliate restrictions and blocked withdrawals were business disputes. What happened next was personal. Drake claimed Ed Craven had been “dissing the owls”—a reference to his OVO crew—and that Craven and co-founder Bijan Tehrani were “partying with Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio,” suggesting they were courting other celebrities while sidelining him.
“F**k them… they want smoke with OVO so it’s uppppppp.”
— Drake
On a Sunday night, everything detonated. Viewers in Trainwreck’s Kick chat noticed a familiar name typing furiously: Drake himself.
“Eddie been dissing the owls f**k Eddie… F**k this goof… We built this sh**… And they treat us like sh** still.”
— Drake in Trainwreck’s chat
He compared himself to Steph Curry winning championships for ungrateful owners:
“…make us run su*cides after practice still, eat granola bars for meals, and take the Greyhound bus to games… F**KING GOOFINOS.”
— Drake
He posted Craven’s picture. Called him a snake. And within 48 hours, deleted his entire Kick account.
When Adin Ross suggested settling it with a boxing match, Drake’s response was instant:
“I’ll fight these guys in Walmart brother, let me know.”
— Drake to Adin Ross
Trainwreck Confirms the Pattern
What makes Drake’s explosion credible is that Trainwreck—Stake’s other marquee streamer—immediately echoed the same frustrations.
“Believe me, however you feel, I feel too. I put in everything. I put in my life, my health, my safety. They’d been around for five years before me, and they were nowhere relative to real success. Then I joined, and instantly they became number one.”
— Trainwreck on stream
He admitted he never had proper contracts and noted that “the reality has changed over time,” accusing Stake of “memory misplace”—conveniently forgetting who built their empire once they no longer needed them as desperately.
“When you start dealing with loads of money, certain facts in some people’s minds get altered.”
— Trainwreck
This wasn’t just Drake being dramatic—this was a pattern.
The Unanswered Questions
Here’s what we still don’t know: Stake and Ed Craven never publicly responded. Not to the snake comments, not to the withdrawal allegations, not to the affiliate restrictions, not to the OVO disrespect claims. Silence.
Were there legitimate compliance reasons for the restrictions? Did Drake violate terms? Was this a renegotiation tactic gone wrong? Was the entire feud—as some industry insiders whispered—actually a guerrilla marketing stunt that generated massive visibility for both parties? The circumstantial evidence points to a classic power-shift story: small company needs celebrity desperately, celebrity helps build empire, empire grows beyond needing celebrity, empire tightens terms, celebrity explodes publicly.
The Aftermath: Back to the Snake
Plot twist: weeks after calling Craven a snake, Drake was spotted placing a $300,000 bet through Stake on Jannik Sinner at the US Open. By October, after his birthday, Drake posted a video showing Stake had apparently gifted him $1 million in Bitcoin.
“Money in the vault… @stake are you trying to tell me we’re back?”
— Drake
Stake replied: “We never left.”
Old habits—and hundred-million-dollar relationships—die hard, even when you’ve publicly declared your business partners reptilian. The Drake-Stake saga revealed that in the creator economy, explosive public feuds don’t necessarily mean permanent breakups. Sometimes they’re just negotiations conducted at maximum volume.
Meanwhile, both Drake and Stake are now defendants in class-action lawsuits in Missouri and New Mexico, accused of promoting illegal gambling. Regulators are circling. The UK Gambling Commission warns crypto gambling regulation is “18 months away, not 5 years.” All 50 US attorneys general signed a letter urging DOJ action against offshore platforms.
The $100 million partnership that was “inevitable” became the most public breakup in streaming history—then apparently un-broke-up—and now faces legal scrutiny that could reshape the entire industry.
Remember: The house always wins. Unless you’re being paid $100 million to pretend otherwise—and even then, they might block your withdrawals.
