
How are the online gambling boom and attempts to arrest a Brazilian star connected?
27 January, 2025One of Brazil’s most famous country singers, Gustav Limo, has a very hectic life indeed: in one day, in less than 24 hours, he managed to perform at a rodeo in the rural state of São Paulo, see Eikon perform at the Rock in Rio festival, fly to Miami and… become the subject of an arrest warrant on suspicion of money laundering.
The arrest warrant was issued late last night. The basis for its issuance was that Lima was suspected of having ties to illegal Internet gambling. According to the singer’s representative, the arrest had no basis and was unlawful. Interestingly, the warrant was cancelled a day later. The judge claimed that the singer had provided “shelter” to the owner of a betting company and his wife, who were wanted on charges of money laundering.
Yet the attempted arrest of a star with 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify has become a major local news story and has drawn attention to how a sudden surge in unregulated online gambling has become a growing problem. Public health in Brazil is in crisis. The number of companies that engage in online gambling has grown exponentially, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. And many of these companies are linked to local criminal gangs.
Experts warn that new rules governing online gambling will not be enough to combat what many are calling an “epidemic” of gambling in Brazil.
It is worth noting that for most people, online gambling and betting are great ways to have a good time. Some see these activities as an alternative to video games. On the other hand, betting allows them to make watching sporting events more profound and emotional. Since betting can be done right during the match from your phone with the help of convenient betting apps, Brazil may well be on the list of countries with the most significant popularity of betting and other gambling.
Of course, the most popular sport with bookmakers is soccer. However, in Brazil, there has also been a growth in the popularity of other sports disciplines. Cricket has the highest rate of this growth. Bookmakers understand this and provide a broad line and various bonuses. To get them, it is enough to study sites with bookmaker reviews, including the Google search results leader, Cricketbettingapps. There, you can find up-to-date information about cricket betting bonuses, which allow newcomers to expand their betting opportunities significantly. This is another factor that makes cricket betting popular with Brazilians.
But such popularity has a downside. Most people have an excellent time betting. However, a small percentage of those who cannot stop in time lose too much money. There are many such people in Brazil. Therefore, the government cannot ignore the problem.
A series of recent studies have revealed the scale of the problem: in addition to getting Brazilians into debt, more and more people are spending money that could be spent on food to bet. Many people are dropping out of university for the same reason.
Hermano Tavares, a psychiatrist who established an outpatient gambling program at the University of São Paulo Hospital in 1998, made the statement that the Brazilian healthcare system was simply unprepared for what was happening. The crisis was also felt by Gamblers Anonymous, a 12-step recovery program whose first Brazilian group was established in Rio in 1993.
Online gambling was legalized at the end of Michel Temer’s government in 2018, but no regulations were introduced during the four-year term of far-right Jair Bolsonaro. Only Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government approved the rules at the end of 2023, giving companies a year to bring their operations into compliance.
Fernando Haddad, Brazil’s finance minister, whose agency oversees the gambling market, denies the allegations that the regulation is focused on raising money for the government. For example, the agency has launched a series of awareness campaigns to inform Brazilians about the impact of gambling on their health and finances.
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