Offset is being real about his penchant for gambling in a new interview, and he admits bluntly that “I got a problem.”
The former Migos member sat down with the New York Times’ Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli for an episode of Popcast released on Thursday (Nov. 12). In it, he discussed how gambling served as an escape when he was dealing with a number of high-profile difficulties, including the breakup of his marriage with Cardi B and the murder of his former groupmate Takeoff.
As the interview turned towards the aftermath of Offset getting shot earlier this year near a Florida casino, the hosts asked him if he had a problem with gambling. In addition to the shooting, the rapper was sued earlier this year by a casino in Detroit, which claimed it extended him a six-figure credit line that he never paid back.
Offset began by promising to be “a million percent real” in his answer. He said that, to him, a “problem” gambler was someone who was “selling shit” because they “ain’t got the money” to keep up with their habit — a description that did not fit him.
“I’m doing this shit to get away,” he explained.
Then, he said that what might appear to be him gambling is sometimes a sponsored partnership with a prediction market or gambling site.
“I might got a sponsorship from them,” he continued. “They have a lot of budget. Sometimes you think I’m gambling, and I might have collabed somebody, and I just made $400,000 doing this.”
Finally, though, he admitted unequivocally that he has an issue.
“I’m gonna keep it real, I got a problem,” he said. “I’m working through it.”
Check it out below, beginning at the 49:38 mark.
