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Fernanda bet her salary on an online betting site in Brazil. “I have lost everything, I have sold my television, my washing machine, everything I had at home,” laments this 34-year-old cleaner.
Resident in Rio de JaneiroFernanda, whose name has been changed to ensure her anonymity, is far from being an isolated case in the largest country in Latin America.
As a matter of urgency, the public powers seek to regulate an activity that has operated practically without law or order since 2018 and that the Minister of Treasury, Fernando HaddadHe called it a “pandemic.” Online betting “is going to empty the refrigerators of Brazilians,” warned Joao Pedro Nascimento, president of the stock market authority, the Securities Commission.
The so-called “bets” offer bets on parties and games like the Tiger of Fortune or the Aviator, which Fernanda used to play. There are about 24 million followers in a country of 212 million inhabitants, according to the Central Bank.
The platforms sponsor most of the big football clubs and flood the space public with ads starring stars, like the soccer player Vinicius Jr.
The press has had a feast with alleged money laundering scandals in places illegal.
A recent study by the Central Bank fell like a bomb. In August, 5 million beneficiaries of Family Bag, the aid that the State pays to the poorest, they transferred 3 billion reais to betting sites. /AFP