Brazil police chief tells betting CPI influencers are luring gamblers to black market
On Tuesday (22 April), Lucimério Barros Campos appeared in front of the Brazil betting CPI, after having led an investigation called “Operation Game Over”.
This sought to uncover malicious activity from online influencers in regards to illegal betting.
The police chief told the panel that illegal betting sites are using online influencers to drive bets made via the online payment service Pix. Players are able to use channels operated by the influencers to place bets on the black market.
As influencers are not considered financial institutions, it is impossible for the gambling regulator and other federal entities to freeze their assets and block the transactions.
“After people complained about losses after having played, we realised that these fintechs, the payment intermediaries, are these payment methods that are created clandestinely, through people who have no connection with the legal entity created,” Lucimério told the CPI.
The investigation identified BRL15 million (£2 million/€2.3 million/$2.6 million) had been wagered via illegal bets in Alagoas since the start of Brazil’s legal betting sector on 1 January.
How are influencers advertising illegal gambling?
Lucimério told the CPI that influencers had been hired by illegal betting companies and were then using false accounts to mislead gamblers into thinking they had won significant sums of money from betting with black market sites.
But in reality influencers are instead profiting from the actual bettors that are playing with the brands they are marketing.
“In order to play, the gambler needs to download an app,” Lucimério said. “That app is provided the famous demo account for influencers.
“The [influencer] would post the link for people to click and bet, but they also received another [fake] link where they could log in and record the screen showing how they made the big win. It was all a scam.”
More powers needed to combat influencers
Lucimério believes further legislation is needed to prevent such activities, which exploit bettors by promising prizes that aren’t possible to win.
Last month, federal deputy Kim Kataguiri introduced a bill which aims to criminalise the advertisement of black market betting, with a maximum penalty of eight years in prison for marketing that targets children and vulnerable people.
“If there is no proper regulation of this type of activity, we are talking about predatory activity here, which poses a very significant risk to the health of Brazilians,” Lucimério added.
“It ends up taking money out of the individual’s home, stopping it from circulating the local economy and going straight to the betting shops. If they are clandestine, the money doesn’t even stay in Brazil.”
Lucimério explained how the investigation initially looked into fraudulent activity, but later observed money laundering.
Senator Damares Alves, of the CPI, praised the police force’s work in combatting such crimes, saying: “Congratulations to the police officers who had the courage to face this billion-dollar, disgusting, disgusting market.”