Taiza Karine da Costa had her first experience with gambling when she was just nine years old.
Costa’s godfather, who grew up in Rio de Janeiro’s wild frontier, sent her around the neighborhood with a few coins in hand and forced her to bet on the popular lottery, which is illegal but has been a staple of life in Brazil for more than a year. It’s something. century.
The habit stuck, and as an adult, she began betting every day on a game in which players bet on animals represented by a series of numbers. Like many Brazilians, whenever she dreamed of living things, she thought it was a sign to play the lottery, known in Portuguese as “jogo do bicho” (animal game).
“If you dream it, it will happen,” said Costa, 37, a clothing salesman.
But lately, Costa has turned his attention to another game of chance that’s available to him 24 hours a day. It is a digital slot machine that offers big rewards if you can draw three matching symbols.
Tigrinho, which means “little tiger” in Portuguese, imitates popular slot games in China and is leading the way in the explosion in popularity of mobile betting apps since digital gambling was legalized in Brazil in 2018. I am playing a role. Costa played Little Tiger every day, gambled and lost — and it turned around. She estimates she lost about $80,000 over two years on the app.
“It’s hard to stop,” she said.
From digital casinos to soccer betting, online gambling games have sparked a frenzy in Latin America’s largest country, and as in other parts of the world, how to regulate the burgeoning industry and how low-income people who often pile up debt This is causing a heated debate over whether to protect or lose a large portion of your small profit bet.
Gamblers are also threatening Brazil’s Animal Lottery. Animal lotteries, associated with violent mobs, have been an enduring part of popular culture since their creation in Rio de Janeiro in the 1800s and spread across the country.
Decades of crackdowns have failed to eradicate the lottery and the criminal organizations that run it, but analog games are now in decline as fewer Brazilians seek to physically place bets with local bookmakers. It seems like we’re in crisis.
According to the Legal Gaming Institute, a nonprofit organization that studies gambling in Brazil, digital alternatives that offer bigger jackpots and endless chances currently attract more than $23 billion in wagers each year, which is more than the average wager for animals. It is said to be equivalent to about 10 times the lottery ticket.
While analog games have six draws a day, online gambling is non-stop.
“Brazilian gamblers now have a casino in their pocket,” said Magno José Santos de Sousa, director of the institute.
Meanwhile, the Animal Lottery “has not been able to renew its foundations,” said Luis Antonio Simas, a Rio historian who wrote a book about the game.
The game was created in the 1890s by a baron who was trying to attract more visitors to his newly established zoo in Rio’s Villa Isabel neighborhood. Those with tickets were entered into a drawing, and an animal was drawn at the end of each day.
The lottery soon became more popular than the zoo itself, and similar games of chance began popping up all over the city. Fearing that the game would damage government lotteries, authorities banned the game three years after it was created.
However, the success of the lottery did not stop. Over time, bookmakers taking bets outside bars and newsstands became established throughout Brazil, and the game reached even the most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest.
By the 1970s, animal lotteries had grown into a multimillion-dollar business, fueling bloody conflicts as Rio’s mafia fought for control of territory. Gambling bosses eventually divided cities and countries into zones.
To protect their illegal trade, lottery kingpins bribed judges, politicians, and police officials. In Rio’s working-class neighborhoods, he won the hearts of people by buying up local soccer teams, funding extravagant Carnival parades, and handing out Christmas presents.
“They put up this playful, fun façade,” said Fabio Correa, a federal prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro who heads a special commission to combat organized crime. “They wanted to create an image of the Good Samaritan.”
Authorities have repeatedly cracked down on mafia-run lottery games for years, but finally made a breakthrough in 1993. A judge sentenced 14 lottery bosses to six years in prison. But soon, many of the game’s most powerful kingpins were out and free to expand their empires.
On a recent afternoon in the Villa Isabel neighborhood, the birthplace of animal lotteries, three booksellers manned different corners, accepting bets from patrons. Very few people looked younger than 50.
“I always bet on pigs or tigers,” said Germano da Silva, 71, a former publicist. He dug into his wallet and pulled out an old ticket that had won him $450 the week before. “My children don’t know how to play,” he added. “They come to me whenever they want to bet.”
For beginners, lottery rules may seem difficult. Players bet on two-, three-, or four-digit number combinations associated with one of 25 different animals, from cows to monkeys. Stakes start from a few cents, but payouts can reach thousands of dollars.
But historian Simas said most animal lottery players aren’t betting with the hope of getting rich. “They want to win a little bit of money to buy a beer at the end of the day,” he says. “Playing games is part of street culture.”
In Brazil, a highly superstitious country, animal lottery bets have long been based on dreams, lucky animals, or the dates of major life events such as birthdays, deaths, and marriages.
“Everyone has their own favorite pastime,” said Nena Coelho, a 60-year-old secretary who was inspired by a stray dog that followed a friend’s house to bet on dogs.
Most gambling, including casinos and slot machines, is prohibited in Brazil, but lawmakers legalized digital gaming but delayed drafting specific oversight rules. Experts say the delay has opened the door for thousands of unregulated platforms, some fraudulent, to flood Brazil.
Leah Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Research at Rutgers University, said this reflects the experience of countries like Britain and the United States, where lawmakers eager to generate tax revenue were quick to legalize digital gambling. However, he said they have since competed and imposed regulations. University.
“Most members of Congress don’t really realize that this is potentially addictive,” Nawar said.
The digital game was an instant hit in Brazil, a country with 203 million people with one of the highest Internet usage rates in the world. The platform, which promises a quick escape from poverty, quickly gained popularity among low-income groups in a country marked by deep inequality.
The colorful, childish app was often promoted by social media influencers who told their followers they could win tens of thousands of cash on sites that turned out to be rigged. (some later arrestedis accused of deceiving fans into betting on unapproved platforms. )
The Brazilian government estimates that nearly a quarter of the population has started gambling online in the past five years. Brazilians now spend about $3.5 billion a month on online gambling, according to statistics from the country’s central bank, with sports betting a big part of soccer-crazy Brazil.
In a rush to regulate the industry, Brazilian authorities this month began enforcing a new law requiring gambling companies to pay fees and comply with federal rules on fraud, responsible marketing and money laundering.
Although animal lotteries remain illegal, the shift to digital gambling has opened up new revenue streams.
Authorities say lottery operators are using legal gambling sites to launder money raised from illegal activities such as animal lotteries.
“They’re invading the digital space,” Correa said. “At the end of the day, they want to give an air of legality to an otherwise illegal activity.”
But even though many people are trying to quit playing animal lotteries, there are still people who are not ready to let go.
Matheus Rezende, 30, remembers his father teaching him how to calculate odds and make craft bets. “He’s the Google of animal lotteries,” said Rezende, a Rio beverage distributor.
These days, Rezende becomes one of the millions of Brazilians who place digital bets on soccer matches. Still, he is interested in animal lotteries and also stops by the local lottery store every week.
He says he knows the game has criminal connections, but it’s still sad to see it disappear.
“It’s a family tradition,” he said. “So there’s a certain nostalgia there.”
