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Jannik Sinner’s prospects of further success at the US Open appear to be under threat from the ‘Drake Curse’ after the rapper posted on social media to reveal his latest big money punt. 
Drake has wagered $300,000 on the top-ranked men’s tennis player in the world, backing him to go all the way at Flushing Meadows in New York in a repeat of his 2024 glory. 
The ‘One Dance’ artist stands to receive around $507,000 if the Italian player goes on to secure his fifth major championship, which would represent his second US Open victory.
Janik Sinner has already completed four rounds, most recently defeating Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
The 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 rout showed Sinner at his very best, leaving Bublik to declare, “He’s like an AI-generated player”, reflecting the very high level that the 24-year-old is currently operating at.
Sinner will take on his compatriot Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-final on Thursday. 

Drake is back on Stake with madness.. $300k on Sinner! pic.twitter.com/WvgZOTb8Nt
— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) September 3, 2025

What is the Drake Curse?
With the Drake Curse in play, Sinner will hope he is the man to break it (not that he will be paying much attention to the viral noise), which would be celebrated by the 38-year-old Canadian performer. 
The rapper is infamous for placing big bets on sporting events – and often losing them – like he reminded everyone this week when he posted a screenshot on social media to reveal his US Open punt.
The Drake Curse saw $210,000 placed on American Taylor Fritz to beat Sinner in the 2024 US Open final, which didn’t go his way. 
Drake is known to have made various high-profile losing bets over the years, with a frequent losing pattern creating the curse associated with his name.
In 2022, he lost $2 million Canadian dollars when Israel Adesanya faced a knockout loss by Alex Pereira.
At the World Cup in Qatar the same year, Drake bet $1 million on Argentina to win the final, but although Lionel Messi was the man to lift the trophy, they won on penalties, meaning the bet on the decider did not stand.
Back in February 2023, he wagered $400,000 on Jake Paul beating Tommy Fury by knockout. Fury won by decision.
Then last year, Drake lost $565,000 as he bet on Tyson Fury to beat Oleksandr Usyk, only for the Ukrainian to prevail.
The musician is known to have a relationship with the gambling platform Stake, but his $8 million loss over the space of four weeks reflects the tangled web of a problem with celebrities promoting gambling.
Image credit: olly_tennis_/X
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FanDuel has launched its Bet Protect program, allowing users to stay in the NFL game in the event of an early injury to a player. 
Customers are now in line to receive bonus bets in return for an NFL player prop if the player they wager on picks up an injury in the first quarter of the NFL game. 
Ahead of the new NFL regular season, the leading sportsbook and daily fantasy sports operator has introduced the incentive to offset the risk of early injuries impacting bettors’ activity, in line with similar provisions from rival companies. 
These include DraftKings’ Early Exit program (which covers the first half) and Fanatics Sportsbook’s Fair Play Policy, which is used for the NBA Playoff games.

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https://t.co/mbH4oeQh1s | #NFL pic.twitter.com/O6PsUuu0pR
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) September 2, 2025

How will FanDuel Bet Protect work?
FanDuel Bet Protect will refund NFL player prop bets in the form of Bonus Bets in the following ways:

Straight Bets: If a player prop bet (e.g., yards, touchdowns) is placed and the player is injured in the first quarter, FanDuel refunds the bet as Bonus Bets within 24 hours.
Parlays/Same Game Parlays (SGP): If the injured player’s prop is the only losing leg, FanDuel re-prices the bet with new odds and pays out in Bonus Bets if the remaining legs win.
Eligibility: The program automatically applies to eligible NFL player prop bets. No opt-in is required.
Settlement: Bets qualifying for Bet Protect are still marked as a loss in the “My Bets” section after the game, but Bonus Bets are issued for qualifying wagers. 

FanDuel has also launched a new fantasy sports app, FanDuel Picks, in time for the new NFL season.
FanDuel Picks is a new peer-to-peer fantasy sports app, bringing a new way for fans to pick their favorite athletes and form fantasy teams ahead of the 2025 NFL season. The service offers the chance to win up to 1,000 times the entry fee, with new users who deposit $5 to receive $60 in bonus funds as an incentive to try out the new fantasy sports offering.
Image credit: FanDuel
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The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has taken action against Optdeck Service, the Dutch operator of the prominent Unibet brand, with a €450,000 ($524,160) fine.
Owned by France’s FDJ, Unibet’s domain in the Netherlands has been punished for offering bets on prohibited markets.
This relates to soccer games, with users able to place wagers on corners, yellow cards, and matches involving players under the age of 21. 
These included the Under-21 fixture between England’s Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton in October 2023, and another Under-21 game between Sunderland and Bristol City in February 2024. 
Overall, a total of 214 Under-21 matches were available for betting, with the violations taking place between October 2022 and May 2025. 
As a result, the Kansspelautoriteit has issued a weekly penalty of €75,000, capped at €450,000.

“The KSA sees insufficient improvement and a real chance of repetition,” said a statement from the Dutch regulator. 
“According to Dutch gambling legislation, it is not allowed to organise bets on certain matches and competition components. This is to protect the integrity of the sport and to prevent manipulation of these sports bets.”
The Kansspelautoriteit has estimated that Unibet generated revenue of around €300,000 from the outlawed bets, with the maximum penalty of €450,000 representing 1.5 times this amount.
The penalty order of €75,000 per week will be payable if Unibet fails to withdraw the prohibited bets within three weeks of the penalty order, or in the event of a repeated breach of the rules.
The KSA continues to hold operators to account within a stringent framework and in recent weeks, the body confirmed it will increase monitoring of the Control Database (CDB) for licensed operators. 
Recent work undertaken by the KSA utilized the CDB to perform automated checks on all gambling license holders, but this revealed at least one potential failing for each operator. 
The Kansspelautoriteit has strongly warned the companies that maintaining accurate, timely, and compliant data in the CDB is a legal requirement, as part of their license. Operators need to ensure that this information is as complete as possible, at all times, with corrections to be made immediately, as soon as required.
Image credit: Unibet
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The Netherlands Gambling Authority, known as Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), is having a shake-up as it introduces new rules for licensing online games of chance.
This comes as the permits granted in September 2021 are set to expire on October 1, 2026, with these having a term of five years. Now that the new adjusted policy rules have been introduced, applicants will have new obligations to follow, including those who are applying for a follow-up permit.
The new requirements will apply to all who are applying for a permit, and it will be officially adjusted on January 1, 2026.
One of the changes relates to how an application must be attached to a document explaining how providers plan to inform the Ksa in a timely manner about important changes in their policy and business operations. Applications must also now add an exit plan, which explains how to reduce the game offer if the permit stops.
“Furthermore, an important addition has been made in the field of reliability: if providers have not implemented irrevocable or enforceable judgments of the court at the time of their application, their reliability is not beyond doubt. That is ground for rejecting a permit. Providers must also now submit a Wwft risk analysis with the application,” the update reads in a translated version.
Ksa re-assesses follow-up license application process
It’s not just new applications which have new steps to follow, but operators who are applying for a follow-up permit need to be aware of the changes too.
The Ksa says that ‘various components’ have been reassessed, including addiction prevention policy and the recruitment and advertising policy.
“Another integration test will take place for the control database (CDB) component. They must also comply with the new conditions that apply to all applications, as mentioned above,” the translated news release states.
If a provider has made a mistake in the last five years, which is the holding time for a permit, they must explain during the re-application process how they have learned from previous errors and how they will prevent repetition. If the regulator finds the explanation insufficient, the permit could be refused or additional conditions and restrictions imposed.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
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Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI) said Tuesday (September 2) it will put up $225 million to help finance a new tribal casino and resort being developed by Caesars Entertainment and the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians.
The project, called Caesars Republic Sonoma County, will be built on the site of the current River Rock Casino near Healdsburg, California. Construction kicked off in August and is expected to wrap up in the summer of 2027.
As part of the deal, GLPI will provide a $180 million loan at a fixed interest rate of 12.5% and a $45 million loan with a yield of nearly 14%, for a blended rate of about 12.8%. When the six-year loans mature, Dry Creek will lease the property to a GLPI affiliate for 45 years, paying at least $112.5 million. GLPI will then sublease the property back to a Dry Creek affiliate, with annual rent set at a 9.75% cap rate.
Once complete, Caesars Republic Sonoma County is expected to include a 100-room hotel, four restaurants, three bars, a luxury spa, pool, and fitness center. The casino will feature 1,000 slot machines and 28 table games. River Rock Casino will stay open while construction is underway.
GLPI partnership with Caesars part of ‘long-term tribal casino’ financing
Peter Carlino, chairman and CEO of GLPI, said the agreement broadens the company’s relationships in the gaming industry. “We are proud to be supporting Dry Creek Rancheria and initiating a relationship with the tribe in our role as the lead real estate financing partner for Caesars Republic Sonoma County,” Carlino said. He added that the agreement “reflects our corporate focus on working collaboratively with the industry’s best gaming operators, to enable them to achieve their growth and development goals.”
Carlino also called the deal a reflection of the company’s wider growth strategy. “This valuable partnership also validates other aspects of our growth strategy, importantly, our belief and commitment to pursuing long-term tribal casino financing and new market opportunities,” he said.
GLPI partnered with Citizens Bank, N.A. to put the financing package together, with TFA Capital Partners acting as financial advisor.
The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, which has run River Rock Casino since 2002, represents around 1,300 members, most of whom live in Sonoma County.
Featured image: Canva / Caesars Entertainment
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