Outlaw but inside the technology, Brazil’s “jogo do bicho” remains free

It is a gaming modality that not only continues to spread through the streets in Brazil, but also had to modernize in order not to lose clients. The “jogo do bicho”, although illegal, also had to surrender to the technology and happened to be done through a mobile application.

The "underground lottery" bets used to be made on paper cards, which were collected for the prize draw at the end of the day. The punter only had a sketch to check the game. Today, the bet is made by the cell phone and the bettor receives a printed voucher.

In the sector for 13 years a “money changer” - as they are called people who sell the games - gave an interview to a local media oulet without identifying himself. He tells how the market of the illegal bettings evolved.

"Here in Mato Grosso do Sul, as I know, the app works only in Campo Grande and in Dourados, and their program (from the city of the interior) is better than ours, as you can make several bets at one time. Here in the city I have to do one at a time. We’ve been ordered to use the app. We had no option to choose whether we wanted to continue with the old system or not."

The “money changer” also reveals that customers feel safer with electronic betting. "We play the bet on the application and print a track that stays with the bettor, bringing more security to them because formerly anything could happen to your bet and you did not have any proof," he said.

Oversight

The “jogo do bicho” has a specific article in Decree-Law No. 3,688, of October 3, 1941, the Law of Criminal Offenses. Anyone caught for exploiting the "illegal lottery" can get a penalty of four months to a year in prison, in addition to having to pay a fine.

Head of Deops (Specialized Police Station of Political and Social Order), delegate Paulo Henrique Sá, explains that the Civil Police supervises the “jogo do bicho” routinely. He admits the difficulty of fighting gambling. "We get some complaints, we have recently seized some machines and we have two or three open investigations, but there is social acceptance, it is in people's daily lives," he says about the police's difficulty in collecting information.

That's what Campo Grande News found on the streets. Frequent gamblers, a couple from Ribas de Rio Pardo - 103 km from Campo Grande - who also preferred not to identify themselves, do not see the game as illegal and bet for so long that they cosider it something normal. They reveal that they have already made more than US$2,550 with the game. "You have to be lucky, but sometimes it's worth it," said one of the interviewees.

Just one round the neighborhoods of the Capital to find the benches where the bets are made. Locals also sell authorized lotteries and other products, in addition to keeping the betting clandestine.

History

The game associates 1 number for each of 25 different animals and has appeared for at least 120 years in Brazil. As published by Superinteressante magazine, the betting bank was created to prevent the zoo in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) from closing.

When buying a ticket, a “bicho” (animal) was chosen and if drawn at the end of the day, the buyer could be awarded with up to 20 times the ticket value. In 1894, the “bicheiros” spread across the city and, then, to the whole country.

Source: GMB / Campo Grande News