Offset says he likes to gamble and needs to stop. In the same breath, the rapper insists the habit has not damaged his finances or relationships, even as his mother has urged him to quit and a string of public incidents keeps the topic alive.
The comments came during an appearance on The New York Times podcast Popcast with hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli. The episode, released around Nov. 12-13, 2026, finds Kiari Kendrell Cephus, 34, known professionally as Offset, drawing a sharp line around what counts as a problem.
“I’m gonna be a million percent real with y’all. I like to gamble, right? I feel like I need to stop. I need to stop,” he said. “But I feel like a problem is when you, like, selling [expletive], you ain’t got the money to do it. I’m doing this [expletive] to get away.”
He later added, “I’m gonna keep it real, I got a problem. I’m working through it.” Offset described gambling as an escape during a stretch that included the end of his marriage to Cardi B and the 2022 killing of Migos member Takeoff. He also noted that some of the activity that looks like recreational betting is paid promotional work. “Sometimes you think I’m gambling, and I might have collabed somebody, and I just made $400,000 doing this,” he said.
His mother has told him to stop. Offset recounted that after he was shot outside a Florida casino in April, he tried to call her first so she would not learn the news from the street. His phone died. Latabia Woodward flew in, held him accountable, and told him he was being a coward to his children by making choices that put everyone at risk. She reminded him he is the savior of the family and needs discipline.
The shooting occurred on April 6, 2026, in the valet area of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. An altercation involving associates of rapper Lil Tjay preceded the gunfire. Reports at the time linked the tension to an alleged roughly $10,000 gambling-related debt. Offset sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Lil Tjay, whose legal name is Tione Jayden Merritt, was charged with disorderly conduct and a traffic offense; he was not charged in connection with the shooting and denied involvement. The FBI later released images of suspects and getaway vehicles and noted an attempt to take Offset’s watch after he was wounded.
Offset was discharged within days. He posted a message focusing on family, recovery and music, writing that life is made up of “quiet wins and loud losses” and that “Life’s a gamble and I’m still playing to win.” He returned to the stage shortly afterward, including a performance in which he arrived in a wheelchair. Woodward publicly called her son a “miracle walking.”
A separate civil case remains active in Michigan. MotorCity Casino Hotel sued Offset in March 2026 in Wayne County Circuit Court over an alleged unpaid $100,000 gambling marker and credit line from a March 2024 visit. The casino alleged that collection attempts failed because of insufficient funds and pursued claims that included breach of contract and violation of Michigan’s bad-check statute, which can allow double damages plus costs. Offset did not file a timely response. In September 2026, Judge Qiana Denise Lillard directed the casino toward default proceedings and a motion for default judgment. As of mid-November reporting, no final judgment had been widely confirmed as entered.
Offset has also addressed other casino episodes. A heated exchange at a Paris blackjack table earlier in 2026 was later described by the rapper as a staged skit connected to album promotion. He has said recent experiences have made him more cautious about physical casinos while still planning to gamble in some form.
The Popcast conversation landed in the same week Offset released his album GMFU (Got Me Fucked Up) on Nov. 13, 2026, through Motown. The project, delayed from a late-October target, was framed by the rapper as a deliberate return to focusing on music after a stretch of personal and public noise. The casino-themed video for the Don Toliver collaboration “Every Night” fits the same chaotic, high-stakes aesthetic that runs through his recent public statements.
On personal matters, Offset told the hosts he and Cardi B are now “good” and centered on co-parenting their children. He said the lingering online narrative around their relationship has affected his oldest son. He continues to describe his mother as a grounding presence who sets him straight.
The tension in Offset’s account is clear on the record. He defines a gambling problem by financial ruin he says he has avoided. At the same time, the public record includes a shooting tied to gambling friction, an unpaid six-figure casino marker heading toward default proceedings, repeated maternal pressure framed around responsibility to his children, and his own acknowledgment that the habit functions as a temporary blind from grief and scrutiny. Those facts sit alongside his insistence that the activity has not upended his bank account or closest relationships, and that some of what the public sees is commercial work rather than pure recreation.
