Drake, a world-renowned rapper and musician from Canada, lost a $1 million bet on the FIFA World Cup 2022 final, despite picking Argentina to win. The Canadian rapper placed the bet on Argentina winning but lost the bet due to last minute goal by Mbappe, the French top scorer of the tournament. The match was tied at 3-3 by the end of extra time and was decided by a penalty shootout.
Ahead of the football World Cup final on Sunday, Drake, who is a significant figure in modern popular music and credited with making singing and R&B influences more common in hip hop, shared on Instagram, the proof of him betting $1m on Messi’s side to win the game. As shown in a screenshot posted to his Instagram, Drake’s wager was on 1×2 market, where the result is determined based on the score after 90 minutes of play. The Instagram post is now deleted.
The bet would have given him returns of $2.75 million had Argentina triumphed within 90 minutes at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
This is not the first time Drake has been associated with betting. While there are instances of him walking away with $700000 after betting $471,000 on Super Bowl LVI, he has also racked up quite a few losses.
According to Boss Hunting, at UFC 281, Drake lost $2.2 million in bets: one on former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and the other on former lightweight champion Jose.
Another loss of $300,000 was added to his books during the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix on Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Also, there was a failed $200,000 bet on then-reigning welterweight champion and #1 P4P fighter Kamaru Usman at UFC 278.
The ‘Drake curse’ has been repeatedly cited, with numerous teams and athletes losing an upcoming sporting event after coming into contact with the rapper or where Drake has wagered. Canada’s national team suffered a group stage exit in Qatar without winning a match, shortly after posing with Drake. This is only a third appearance by Canada in the FIFA World Cup.
Conor McGregor suffered defeat in the UFC after being pictured with Drake, while Anthony Joshua was stunned by Andy Ruiz Jr in their first heavyweight world title fight in 2019 as per report by Daily Mail.
Betting and wagering is illegal in India while in countries like Canada it is legal with regulations in place. This edition of the World Cup is also considered as most wagered edition with several states in the USA having legalised betting in recent years.
