JUE 28 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 20:37hs.
Russia 2018

World Cup brings back private bets among Brazilians

The 2018 World Cup, which takes place in Russia, brought back the fever of private bets (locally called bolões) during the competition in Brazil. Whether it's family, friends or even coworkers, the jackpots are fun and bring the possibility of earning extra cash while bettors try to match the results of the games.

Fun guaranteed for fans and football lovers, experts in labor law, however, warn of the care to be taken, especially in the professional environment. In addition, they draw attention to the issue of the change of time in the personnel file in the days of games of the Brazilian national team in the World Cup. According to the lawyer specializing in labor law, Renata Arbol, companies are not required to release employees at the time of the games.

The owner of a space to sell food for weight control, Teresa Carvalho, 43, organized a private bet among friends and clients. She says that she has already participated in similar ones in the past, and this year she took the opportunity to make her own money with her clients. "The important thing is not to win or hit the results of the games. What really is to have fun and enjoy to watch at least the matches of Brazil with friends," she says. Who wins the prize organized by Teresa will win a card that will entitle to get some free products. "I've never won a bolão, but it's interesting to have a dispute with the participants," she says.

Attorney Júlio Tavares, 36, entered in a private bet that was organized by a group of childhood friends. He says he does not like to move so much, and that he only came under the pressure of his friends. "I did not want to participate, but they filled up so much that I ended up getting in," he confesses. Júlio has so far been second to last in the tournament and said that it is difficult to match the results of the games in the first round of the World Cup because they are quite unexpected. According to him, each friend is betting the amount of R$ 20 (US$5.3) and says that in the group there are about 15 people.

Common sense and attention to legislation

In order to guide the participants, especially in the professional environment, local media Cruzeiro do Sul spoke with two labor lawyers. They suggest common sense and attention to labor law so that no employee is harmed by practice within the company environment.

According to Fernanda Pereira, the so-called " bolão " consists of a game betting modality in which a certain group of people gathers to try to match the outcome of a future event, with a recreational purpose and, almost always, with the intention of profit. "Labor jurisprudence inclines to the understanding that such practice, in an isolated context, as in the eventuality of this World Cup, would not constitute any of the causes for dismissal for just cause of the worker by the employer. Also because this conduct is much more the recreation than any mercantilist objective, different from what happens, for example, in games of chance, which are considered a crime," he says.

The lawyer explains that in games of chance, luck is considered the main element, so the result will depend exclusively or mainly on this factor. "But the bolão, as a betting game, depends on the player's ability, logical reasoning, statistics and probability, and luck is not an essential element to define the result," says Fernanda. She also warns of the decisive power of the employer that may prohibit the practice within the work environment. "If the employer understands that the bolão can compromise the good progress of the work, the worker must follow the order and avoid the practice within the workplace," he says.

Lawyer Renata Arbol said that companies are not obliged to release employees at the time of World Cup matches. According to the specialist, the question of the payment of hours not worked, in the case of the company letting the employee leave to watch the games, is a decision of the employer, who may or may not require compensation for that hours. "It is important to emphasize that the labor reform brought change in relation to the so-called bank of hours."

"If an individual agreement is made in writing between the employee and the company, the hours must be compensated in up to six months, and if there is a time bank forecast in a collective agreement, compensation may occur within a year," says Renata. She also points out that companies that will allow employees to watch games in the workplace, the hours spent will not be counted as worked. "The period in which the worker remains in the company's premises for private leisure activities is not considered by the labor law as working hours," she says.

Source: GMB / Ana Cláudia Martins - Jornal Cruzeiro