Andréi Rodrigues stated that he hopes to have the necessary mechanisms and resources to combat this situation.
Brazil.- The Director General of the Federal Police, Andréi Rodrigues, expressed his concern about money laundering practices and organized crime behind online betting. As reported by Coluna de Estado, at a dinner promoted by the think-tank Esfera Brasil in São Paulo, Rodrigues voiced his concern about the need to prevent this practice and to have the necessary mechanisms and resources to fight it.
«We need to close the economic flow of organized crime, which is worth thousands and thousands of millions, through financial investigations, international cooperation, training, and partnerships between private companies and the Federal Police,» stated Rodrigues, referring to virtual betting.
The newspaper Estadão showed that online betting houses took advantage of loopholes in the Brazilian Electoral Law to open a new type of market, offering different prizes to those who guess the winners of the mayoral elections in São Paulo, Rio, and Belo Horizonte, for example. Following the publication of the report, three out of five betting services that offered electoral bets canceled the service.
During the meeting, the president of Esfera, João Camargo, and the president of Google Brazil, Fábio Coelho, told Rodrigues that the risks of betting on the country are long-term. They mentioned that one of them is the legalization of a crime previously restricted to misdemeanors. Another is the loss of money that should be spent on purchasing goods and services. Additionally, people addicted to gambling are even skipping meals to gamble, and the possibility of failing to meet their obligations in the future is high.
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In the opinion of the businessmen present at the dinner, the government could lose control of this situation if effective measures are not taken to curb this practice. Many pointed out that the focus, in this case, should not only be on tax collection.
