Breaking his duck
Rap star Drake has managed to turn his luck around through a $1m bet on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to beat Jared Cannonier. The winning wager breaks a losing streak for Drake after an easy unanimous decision victory for the Nigerian-born star.
a reported net worth of more than $250m
Boasting a reported net worth of more than $250m, the 35-year-old rapper has recently developed a reputation for making large wagers. He placed bets on the underdogs in recent UFC fights but decided to go with a $1m wager on the strong favorite this time around.
Some of his previous losing bets include a $550,000 wager on Justin Gaethje and $275,000 on Jorge Masvidal.
An easy win
In the run-up to the fight on Saturday night, Drake spoke to Adesanya via video call, labeling the stake “a light million.” The UFC star uploaded footage of the conversation to YouTube:
Adesanya seemingly did not feel any pressure during his impressive performance in Las Vegas on Saturday. The 32-year-old fighter has dominated his weight division for a number of years now and has only lost once during his UFC career.
Track record of big bets
Drake has increased his involvement in the gambling space this year, most notably through his partnership with the cryptocurrency online betting website Stake.
$1.25m worth of bets on the Super Bowl
As a result, Drake has publicly placed wagers on many of the biggest sporting events so far this year including $1.25m worth of bets on the Super Bowl. He also won a cool $1m following a $200,000 wager earlier in the year after backing the Golden State Warriors to reach the NBA Finals.
In addition, the music legend has taken part in live Stake-sponsored giveaway events, including one through which he gave away $1m in Bitcoin.