Drake Wins Big Betting On Adesanya

Drake has become a household name in gambling in recent months. The Canadian rapper has become more vocal in casinos and related games since his first involvement with Stake.com. Many casino marketing departments and stakeholders see him as an “in-demand gambler,” rightly so. The superstar isn’t only renowned for his popular music and the high stakes he puts on his bets.

However, the rapper has suffered losses, especially when betting on UFC players. Fortunately, that curse ended in his most recent big prediction. Drake won big betting UFC when Israel Adesanya dominated the match against Jared Cannonier in July. So, how did Drake bring an end to his big-money gambling curse and why is he referred to as betting whale? More on this in the article.

The betting whale

What nickname would you give a person who constantly wagers six figures in every game? There are probably a lot of cute names you can think of, but “whale” may not be one of them. Well, guess what? That’s the name of high-profile bettors, and Drake has undoubtedly earned the nickname.

The Canadian rapper is known for placing hundreds of thousands of dollars bets. He keeps followers abreast of his gambling escapades through his Instagram posts. Of course, with a net worth of over USD$250 million, the musician can afford to eject big bucks.

But are “whales” good bettors? Having six stacks of money to place on random bets doesn’t necessarily make one an excellent bettor. Unfortunately, that’s the story of the popular Canadian musician. Drake has seen many of his previous bets go south in what has since been dubbed “Drake’s curse.”

Drake’s curse

In recent years, the four-time Grammy award winner has been blamed for the outcome of many sports matches, with UFC topping the recent list. But why was Drake considered a bad luck charm by sporting fans? A trend emerged whereby the rapper would pose with an athlete before their match. As “fate” would have it, the athlete who posed with the superstar would lose the fight.

Interestingly, Drake bet on most, if not all, of these athletes. The beginning of this curse can be traced back to when the artist joined the Kentucky college basketball program. The team found it hard to win a title since gaining the “superfan,” and many have linked Kentucky college’s misfortunes to the Pop culture icon.

Among his first big losses as a gambler was when Wisconsin defeated Kentucky college in a decider. Drake placed USD$4,500 with the hope that his team would win, but all hell broke loose. Miami was next on the list, with the Florida side losing the NBA finals 4-1 against San Antonio Spurs despite being blessed with Dwayne Wade and LeBron James.

Serena Williams’ shocking defeat in the 2015 US Open semi-final against Roberta Vinci marked the start of Drake’s curse in tennis. Jadon Sancho, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Sergio Aguero are some football stars who have been at the end of this bad luck charm with their respective teams losing important matches shortly after posing with the superstar.

Players in the boxing community are among the most recent victims of this curse that seems to have spread like wildfire. Anthony Joshua versus Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019 and Conor McGregor versus Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 are among the most famous matches in that regard. In fact, Anthony Joshua posted on his Instagram before the match with a lot of optimism of breaking the curse.

But despite all these setbacks over the years, Drake seems to have broken that unfortunate run of events. His recent backing of Israel Adesanya bore fruits, with the rap artist going home with huge profits.

Bet on Israel Adesanya

The millionaire rap icon broke the losing streak after betting on Israel Adesanya, who won his match in July. A bet that was initially referred to as “light” money saw Drake win USD$1 million. Every Adesanya’s fan would have been worried when they saw the Canadian superstar supporting their side. But luckily, this time he was supporting the winning team.

Drake, who is the ambassador of crypto betting website Stake.com, had lost some of his previous bets because of his faith in the “underdogs.” Jorge Masvidal and Justin Gaethje are among those backed by the musician who ended up losing USD$275,000 and USD$550,000 respectively.

But he bucked this trend of going against the favorites and placed his bet in favor of Israel Adesanya. Fortunately, he was in much safer territory, given the fact that Adesanya was odds on to emerge the winner.

The rapper went on Facetime call with the Nigerian-born middleweight UFC champion before the match. Drake told Adesanya that he had placed a bet in his favor. He further referred to the sum as a “light” fee. Given Drake’s run of form in big-money gambling, Adesanya and his fans would be forgiven for being worried.

However, Adesanya seemed pretty confident with the win as he shared a clip of the Facetime call. He referred to the conversation as “Goat Talk,” Understandably, this was an interaction between two icons who have made a name in their respective fields. Drake wished Adesanya luck before hanging up, but the UFC champion was wonderstruck.

Drake’s decision to play smart money paid off unanimously when Adesanya won the match. Adesanya dominated his fourth title defense against Jared Cannonier from bell to bell. If this performance is anything to go by, the middle-weight UFC champion is perhaps the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.

How to bet on UFC fights

Given Drake’s success in his last wager, you might be tempted to also try your like. But how do you go about it? Betting on mixed martial arts (MMA) requires you to have knowledge of the sport. Just like football and other popular games, UFC fights also have in-game rules that may determine your success as a bettor.

So, where should you start? First, you need to understand all the main markets. Here are the most popular markets that you’ll get on any betting platform:

The moneyline

This is the most straightforward market as the bettor is only required to pick who they think will win the fight. Based on their history in the UFC fights, one of the fighters will be the favorite and the other the underdog. Of course, the probability of the former winning the match is high but that’s never a guarantee.

Depending on the bookie, this market can either be 2-way or 3-way. A 2-way Moneyline only has two options—a win for either fighter. There are instances, however, when the match can end in a draw. It’s quite a rare occurrence with only 1.7% of all UFC fights resulting in a draw. Nevertheless, many platforms still offer this market. So, if you fancy your chances, you can back the draw and you could win big because of its high odds.

Over/under rounds

In this market, you can bet on how long you think the match will last. The betting site will set a line on the same and you can decide whether you think the fight will go beyond that line. For instance, if you think the bout will last for two rounds, you can place a bet on over 1.5 rounds.

Note that each round in a UFC fight lasts for five minutes. So, if you place a bet on the bout to last 1.5 rounds, the total time played in the second round should be at least 2.5 minutes. Therefore, your bet wins if the match is stopped three minutes into the second round. However, you’ll lose if the match ends two minutes into the second round.

Proposition bets

This is a common market among the sports betting community. It’s simply a bet on the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event during the match. Usually, this event doesn’t have any significant impact on the overall outcome of the fight. Here are some of the most popular prop bets in MMA:

• Players touching their gloves
• Win by unanimous decision
• Win by split decision
• Fight to go the distance
• Points spread

Round betting

Here, you can choose the round where you think the match will be won. Some fighters have impressive records of winning their fights in the early rounds. Of course, the main factor to consider in this bet is the strength of each party. If one of the fighters is significantly “advantaged,” the match is likely to end earlier and the opposite is also true.

UFC futures markets

As the name suggests, this is a long-term bet. The bettor can back a fighter to win certain weight categories by a given date. Keep in mind that the bookmaker selected the date, with most of them going for the end-of-the-year UFC Champion. The odds on such bets are usually very high, especially at the beginning of the campaign.

Stake’s involvement in sports

Stake.com has become heavily involved in the sporting industry in recent years. The company has constantly strengthened its ties with the boxing community through its deals and partnerships. Today, Stake is UFC’s official betting partner in Latin America, Asia, and Brazil.

The partnership between the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization and one of the biggest cryptocurrency betting companies became official in 2021. Some of the most popular UFC stars including Francis Ngannou and Israel Adesanya are among the icons partnering with Stake.com. Stake’s main objective here was to build on its popularity as it plans to reach more people across the globe.

To further enhance that growth, Stake.com struck a deal with Sergio Aguero—Manchester City’s legend. The addition of Aguero’s name on the list of partners gives Stake.com a better chance of attracting football fans. Given the popularity of the English Premier League and the former Manchester City superstar, it’s understandable why the company made that move.

Stake.com has invested even further in its penetration to the Premier League by partnering with renowned British clubs. Watford FC joined the list in 2021 while Everton struck a club-record deal in July 2022.

The Stake-Drake partnership

Although the A-list Canadian artist has been in the gambling industry for long, his name has become even more popular in recent months due to his Twitch streams. The Stake and Drake livestreams, courtesy of Stake.com, have attracted many gamblers, with his live videos hitting hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers. So, what exactly is Stake.com and what’s the relationship with Drake? Here is a brief description of this company.

Who is Stake.com

Stake.com is a household name among the gambling fraternity. The casino and gambling giant first came into operation in 2017 and got into sports crypto betting in 2020 with the release of their sportsbook.

Stake has been able to grow in leaps and bounds within the past five years into the world’s leading crypto betting platform. Its rapid growth has caught the attention of many players in the world of gambling. This private entity currently employs over 200 personnel worldwide.

Stake.com signed a partnership deal with Drake to attract more bettors across the globe. The Canadian rapper had been dropping hints about a deal with the betting platform, and what seemed “inevitable” for months happened. There is no doubt that this move has had a positive impact on the company’s brand awareness.

Stake.com currently handles hundreds of millions of transactions daily with over 100 billion bets placed on the platform. Considering that it also has millions registered users, there is no doubt that Stake is one of the busiest online betting arenas.

The main objective of the Stake-Drake partnership was to push the brand name to the global market, and it seems to be bearing fruit. In this sponsorship deal, the Canadian superstar has been able to reach millions of viewers and prospective gamblers across the world.

Conclusion

Drake has become a household name in the betting community in recent years. The celebrated Canadian pop culture icon is known for his big-money wagers. But what makes his gambling career even more interesting is the famous “Drake curse”. Many athletes have fallen victim to this curse with their sides losing a match immediately have posing for a photo with the popular rapper. Israel Adesanya, however, brought the curse to an end with his impressive win against Jared Cannonier. The middleweight UFC champion’s victory saw Drake win USD$1 million.

References

“Drake Tells Adesanya He Placed A Beg On Him To Win The UFC 276 Fight.”, Source: https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/34182090/drake-tells-israel-adesanya-placed-huge-bet-win-ufc-276-fight

“Israel Adesanya: Fans concerned for The Last Stylebender after he FaceTimes Drake ahead of UFC 276.”, Source: https://www.givemesport.com/88029072-israel-adesanya-drake-ufc-mma-curse

“Rapper Drake wins $1million bet on Israel Adesanya fight to end UFC gambling curse.”, Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/mma/drake-israel-adesanya-ufc-fight-27383637

“How To Bet On UFC Fights: The Ultimate Online MMA Betting Guide.”, Source: https://nypost.com/article/how-to-bet-on-ufc-mma-fights/