Illegal bets in small town in RN brought in R$ 415 million, says Public Ministry

Money laundering; Inducement to speculation; Exploitation of unauthorized gambling and lottery; Criminal association; Crime against consumer relations. The calculation of the movement was based on the mandatory transfer of 2% of the gross revenue from these establishments to the City Hall of Bodó — which announced receiving R$ 8.3 million from these bets in the period. This week, the Justice Department of Rio Grande do Norte determined the blocking and seizure of assets worth R$ 145 million from people involved in the scheme. ‘This was the value that we found in fraudulent movement,’ said prosecutor Augusto Lima, head of the Anti-Money Laundering Technology Laboratory of the MP-RN. Bank accounts, financial investments, pension plans, real estate, and vehicles of the suspects were blocked. In February, the column revealed that the municipality launched, in October 2024, a public bid for companies interested in a regulation for fixed odds betting — something that is the exclusive competence of the Union. The measure led Bodó to be nicknamed the ‘paradise of illegal bets.’ The city hall charged R$ 5,000 to grant licenses and attracted 43 companies that either could not or did not obtain federal accreditation — making them illegal. These companies started operating with the municipality’s endorsement. ‘Some of these have already been shut down, but we reached 24 within the scope of the investigation,’ explains the prosecutor. At the time, the SPA (Department of Prizes and Bets), linked to the Ministry of Finance, informed UOL that the municipal regulation was illegal and that the City Hall of Bodó had been notified. Despite this, LotSeridó — a public company created to ‘legalize’ the bets — continued with valid registrations until October 24, when it suspended the authorizations. What attracted companies to municipalities was the much lower licensing fee compared to the one charged by the federal government — R$30 million to operate up to three betting sites. ‘Despite the bid, these establishments knew they were not legal, because there is no possibility for municipalities to regulate betting houses. Therefore, this game is illegal,’ said the prosecutor. Money laundering suspicions were raised during the investigation, with many of these bets being registered under straw men, usually individuals with an economic standard inconsistent with the amounts handled. Augusto stated that the MP has already identified some of the owners and is trying to locate the others. One of the challenges is that most platforms are hosted abroad. ‘From now on, we will move forward with the investigation, and each person will be held accountable for their responsibilities.’ Additionally, many of them show signs of being shell companies, registered at non-existent addresses or that continued operating even after being closed in the CNPJ registry. Fraud against websites and consumers was frequently practiced by these illegal establishments. One of the identified frauds was the invasion of sites with ‘.edu.br’ and ‘.gov.br’ domains to insert redirection codes. This made the bets appear in privileged positions in Google searches, as revealed by the column in July 2024. ‘The use of these domains gives the idea of endorsement and creates an illusion for the consumer. The curious thing is that the original domains don’t know: these sites perform small invasions, infiltrate a code into the legitimate site, and, after the click, the user is redirected to a site hosted in another country, almost like a dark web,’ said the prosecutor. He added that most of these establishments closed their activities shortly after the Central Bank announced a measure prohibiting ‘pocket accounts,’ used for transactions without clear identification of the origin of the funds. ‘It was not a mere coincidence,’ he believes. According to the Central Bank, the measure aims to limit anonymous operations and hiding of resources. The new rule will come into effect on December 1, 2025.