Toronto rapper Drake has been known to make bets on some of the world’s biggest sporting events and the FIFA World Cup is no outlier.
The problem is that Drake doesn’t seem to have much luck at all when placing wagers and his penchant for picking mostly losers has been dubbed the “Drake Curse.”
On Saturday, Drake — real name Aubrey Graham — tried to swing the fates in Canada’s favour for the country’s Round of 16 matchup against Morocco, placing a bet against his homeland and posting it on Instagram.
With 1.40 odds, the singer bet $1 that that Morocco would advance past Canada while captioning the post “Won the last time…gonna try reverse curse strategy.”
Of course, the so-called gambling gods did not bite on Drake’s attempt and Canada lost 3-0 to the talented North African side, ending the co-host’s tournament.
Why didn’t the ‘reverse curse’ work?
As most gamblers or superstitious sports fans will tell you, pointing out that you’re trying to sway karma with a bet is a surefire way to negate the intended effect.
Also, wagering a single dollar isn’t going to move any sort of needle on the cosmic scales.
And, of course, the entire thing is merely superstition to begin with and has no tangible basis on reality — which is perhaps the biggest lesson to take from this.
After all, Drake did place a much more sizable wager on Canada’s Round of 32 last Sunday, betting $770,000 to win just over a million on Canada to defeat South Africa — which it did in second-half injury time.
What has Drake been doing during the World Cup?
Drake hasn’t been just sitting back and watching the games at home, either. The Hotline Bling hitmaker was spotted watching Portugal take on Croatia at Toronto Stadium last week and later met up with Cristiano Ronaldo at a hotel after the game.
Drake posted a snap of himself posing with the soccer legend, writing “We are the same height, I swear!” despite looking an inch or two shorter than CR7.
He also shared that Ronaldo had gifted a signed Portugal jersey to Drake’s son, Adonis.
What are some other examples of the ‘Drake Curse?’
Drake, who has partnered with betting site Stake, has shared many of his large bets over the years, with many results in six-figure losses. It has gotten to a point where a website was launched to track how much he has lost gambling on sports.
According to Drakecurse.com, the rapper is currently down $555,000 all-time from his public sports bets and has won just 32 out of the 86 bets that he has publicly posted. With 54 losses, that gives Drake a winning percentage of just 37.2%.
He also has wagered a total of more than $37.7 million over his 86 public bets, returning $37.17 million.
Some of his biggest losses include betting on the heavily favoured Oklahoma City Thunder during Game 6 in the 2025 NBA Finals, which it lost to the Indiana Pacers.
He also suffered two huge beats in the UFC, losing half a million on Aljamain Sterling against Sean O’Malley in 2023 and also losing more than $1.5 million when Israel Adesanya was upset by Alex Pereira in 2022.