Who knew that global superstar Bruno Mars would be celebrating his recent achievement by poking fun at his gambling debt rumors?
On Monday, January 27, Spotify announced that the “Locked Out of Heaven” singer became the first artist to reach 150 million monthly listeners on the audio streaming platform. A day after Spotify’s announcement, the musician shared the exciting news through his Instagram story, captioning it with, “Keep streaming!” adding, “I’ll be out of debt in no time.”
The caption alluded to 2024 reports about the singer owing Park MGM Las Vegas $50 million from hitting casino tables. Bruno had a long-running residency at the place, which furthered speculations from the public.
However, MGM was quick to debunk the rumors, stating that their partnership with the Filipino-American singer is longstanding and rooted in mutual respect. They furthered that the singer had no debt with the casino, affirming that any speculations about the matter are completely false.
This did not stop the musician from joking about the reports now and then. In September last year, Bruno mocked the reports about his gambling debt during his performance.
“Ever since those articles came out about owing the casino money, you stopped picking up my calls. It’s me baby I got money,” he said during a performance.
Bruno Mars jokes about the rumors of him being in casino debt.
— Rap Alert (@rapalert6) September 9, 2024
“Ever since those articles came out about me owing the casino money you stopped picking up my calls… It’s me baby I got money.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/aWQyd5CGhq
In June 2024, Bruno was asked by a news outlet if he’d like to address the gambling debt rumors, but he declined with a laugh, stating that he loves the lore of him being a Las Vegas lounge singer in debt to the mob.
"Absolutely not! I love the lore that I am a Las Vegas lounge singer in debt to the mob. I can work with that,” he said during an interview with a US news outlet.
While there is no doubt that Bruno had already etched his name in the music industry years before, he remains a strong force in the industry, evolving his music style through the years.
The song “Die With a Smile” featuring Lady Gaga, remains atop the Billboard Hot 100 charts. According to Spotify, this song was the fastest song on the music platform to hit one billion streams.
Moreover, his collaboration with Blackpink’s Rosé titled “APT” trended in and out of social media sites last year. It also made it to Spotify’s Billions Club.
So far, the musician has 17 songs that have surpassed a billion streams on Spotify.
