Drake’s $1.5m bet reignites ‘curse’ fears before Argentina-Spain final
A massive wager on Argentina to win the World Cup final in normal time resurrects superstition that the rapper’s backing is a jinx for athletes and teams.
Hours before the 2026 FIFA World Cup final in New York, Canadian rapper Drake placed a $1.5 million wager on Argentina to defeat Spain within regulation time. The bet, posted to his millions of Instagram followers via the cryptocurrency platform Stake, would yield a $5.175 million payout if Lionel Scaloni’s side prevail in 90 minutes. The announcement instantly revived a global superstition known as the “Drake curse,” the belief that teams and athletes publicly backed by the artist are doomed to fail.
Drake’s fraught history with Argentine football lent weight to the anxiety. During the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, he bet $1 million on Argentina to beat France inside the original 90 minutes; the match ended 3-3, and Argentina triumphed on penalties, costing him the stake. Two years later, at the 2024 Copa América, he wagered $300,000 on Canada to eliminate Messi’s side in the semi-finals. Argentina won 2-0, after which the national team’s official social media account posted the phrase “Not like us” — a reference to American rapper Kendrick Lamar’s diss track aimed at Drake. In South America, the sequence has fuelled the perception that the artist’s endorsements carry a jinx.
The pattern extends beyond football. Data collated by analysts in North America show that of roughly 80 major sports bets made by Drake, about 50 have been losers, with football-related losses exceeding $1.9 million. A dedicated website, TheDrakeCurse.com, now tracks the phenomenon. European outlets noted that the latest wager coincided with a separate, albeit smaller, bet by Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor, who staked €100,000 on a precise 3-2 Argentina victory in normal time. For fans in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the combination of high-profile celebrity gambling and internet folklore became the dominant pre-match narrative.
In Buenos Aires, the bet sparked a wave of gallows humour online, with supporters quipping that the true threat to their side’s defence of the title was not Spain’s attack but the market activity of a Toronto-born musician. Viewed from European trading floors, Spain entered the final as the bookmakers’ favourite, yet Argentine fans recalled that theirs was the only team since 2002 to win a World Cup final as the underdog — precisely in 2022, defying another set of odds. The outcome in New Jersey will either reinforce the online mythology or deliver another counterexample to the curse.
| Arab Gulf press | −0.30 | critical |
|---|---|---|
| Continental European press | +0.10 | neutral |
| Sub-Saharan African press | 0.00 | neutral |
Drake's curse looms over Messi and Argentina.
The 'curse' is personified and treated as a causal agent, turning a coincidence into a sporting threat.
It omits Conor McGregor's parallel bet, which would downplay the uniqueness of Drake's wager.
Rapper Drake bets on Argentina, like many other celebrities.
The bet is trivialized into a celebrity anecdote, downplaying the superstitious aspect.
It does not elaborate on the 'Drake curse', which is central in other blocs.
Canadian rapper bets the equivalent of billions of naira.
The amount is converted to local currency to emphasize the enormity of the wager in terms familiar to the reader.
It does not mention the curse or the context of other famous bets, such as McGregor's.
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