TeleSUR correspondent Brian Mier reports on the social problems caused by recently legalized online betting programs in Brazil that are spinning out of control. teleSUR
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In Brazil, social problems caused by recently legalized online betting programs in Brazil are spinning out of control.
00:06A correspondent by Amir has the story.
00:10Recent arrest warrants for a country singer and a well-known influencer for allegedly laundering money for online betting companies
00:18has drawn attention to a problem that is spinning out of control in Brazil,
00:22as this sector has earned an estimated 39 billion reais in profits this year,
00:27primarily off the back of the working class, a problem that President Lula drew attention to at the UN this week.
00:37Today, with a cell phone, gambling has entered families' houses.
00:41Gambling is in the living room.
00:44We are now learning in Brazil how the poorest people are going into debt while trying to make money betting online.
00:50This is a problem that we are going to have to regulate
00:53because if we don't soon we're going to have casinos operating in people's kitchens.
01:02Online gambling was first legalized during the Michel Temer administration in 2018
01:08and was further deregulated by Congress in 2023 in a measure which had the support of several members of Congress from leftist parties,
01:16many of whom now regret their support for the measure, as more and more money is sucked out of the pockets of the working class.
01:23I still gamble on two sites. I even played today.
01:26I won 30 reis, but you win 30 and the program pressures you to keep playing, and you end up losing it all back.
01:33One of the measures the federal government is moving quickly to push through Congress
01:37is a ban on the use of Bolsa FamÃlia welfare payments for gambling.
01:41According to a recent study, 3 billion reais of Bolsa FamÃlia money has been lost to online gambling companies this year alone.
01:49People who don't have anything think, well, I can make 30, 40 or 50 reis,
01:53but they find out that in reality they are losing 100, 150, 200 reis or even more coming out of an income that is already very low.
02:00There are people who have lost everything.
02:02There are people who have lost 50,000 reis in one day because of their online gambling addiction.
02:07Brian Meir, tell us, sir, has SIFI.