Music maker and entrepreneur Jay-Z has reportedly placed a $1 million bet on a match in the NBA. The award-winning performer is backing the Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) as they meet the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 championship.
Sources say Fanatics Sportsbook, the sports betting platform launched by the rapper and his associate in 2023, will pay out $3,300,000 if his prediction of OKC winning in 5 games comes true.
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Drake placed the bet on June 6; however, the Thunder were defeated by one point on their home court. That notwithstanding, the businessman is keeping his fingers crossed in the rest of the games.
Early this month, Drake also placed a $750,000 bet on cricket, prompting mixed reactions from fans. The bet was on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to beat the Punjab Kings in an upcoming cricket match.
He highlighted his special interest in cricket and how much of his money has gone into gambling.
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The post generated mixed reactions among fans who marveled at how much he was spending on the game. “Oh so we betting on cricket now?” one person wrote.
Early this year, the rapper said he was planning a new chapter of his career, which he believed would make fans “uneasy.”
“U know I grew up non-confrontational and always treated this game as a sport where my pen won gold, but these days the podium has been hard for all of us to ignore,” he wrote on Instagram in March.
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“I understand that this next chapter may leave you feeling uneasy, but I hope you see my honesty as clarity not charity that answers some questions, especially about the unanswered texts you’ve been sending me,” he added.
The post came nearly a month after Kendrick Lamar performed his Grammy-winning track Not Like Us at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
