Digital influencers from Ceará continue to promote bets and virtual casinos even after the platforms were banned by the federal government. g1 found that at least 40 profiles use Instagram stories to promote platform links.
On September 25th, the ban was determined by Provisional Measure (MP) No. 1,394. The measure prohibited the exploration, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed odds bets in Brazil. The rule also applies to online games and so-called virtual casinos, such as Jogo do Tigrinho.
Bets stopped operating in the country, in theory, from October 6th. g1 entered dozens of influencer profiles in Ceará between October 10th and 13th, after the ban. The report found that the 40 influencers continued to promote the platforms explicitly, on open profiles with thousands of followers, without even mentioning the federal government's ban.
Among the profiles are influencers such as Nayara Souza, Italo Wendel (known as Belo Belo) and Jéssica Santos (known as Jessica Macaxeira). They all accumulate more than a million followers on social media.
Jéssica Santos responded to g1 that she is aware of the Provisional Measure, but "I had ongoing contracts that I needed to fulfill, and I have always valued responsibility and commitment to what I undertake." The influencer considered that she recognizes "how much gambling has harmed the lives of so many people and families." "For this reason, I decided that I will only serve until the end of my contract", he assured.
g1 also contacted the other two influencers, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report.
Some of the profiles promote virtual bets and casinos even with publications where they linked their own images to the platforms, placing videos and photos next to links that vary between “tigrinhos”, “bunnies”, “bulls” and other gambling mascots.
The disclosure of betting platforms in Brazil did not become a crime with the publication of MP 1,394. However, the text of the measure prohibited the advertising of games based on the Consumer Protection Code. Thus, the disclosure of platforms constitutes abusive advertising, subjecting offenders to administrative sanctions.
The punishment for influencers who continue to promote betting platforms may vary according to each case, as explained by lawyer Raquel Andrade.
"The administrative sanction is the starting point. These administrative and fiscal sanctions, possible application of a fine, possible removal of the profile, possible removal of advertising, the possible request for loss and damage of rights over the moral and material damages caused, the possible retroactive collection of taxes, administrative fines, all of this can be applied", he detailed.
For Andrade, the nature of the ban made as a provisional measure gave influencers who promote the platforms a “sense of false impunity”.
“So, an influencer who is not sensitized by news of suicides among young people, workers, the fact that billions of reais are coming out of the budget for food, for leisure, for school, for housing, and who, in the end, is only interested in making a profit, because it is the profit from misfortune, profiting from the tragedy of others, I think this speaks more of the influencer than of the law itself, than of the norm itself”, criticized the lawyer.
The federal government sent a bill to Congress to make both the exploitation and advertising of betting a crime.
In a note sent to g1, the Ministry of Finance said that the Prize and Betting Secretariat (SPA/MF) supervises betting sites, in accordance with Provisional Measure 1,394/2026.
Psychologist Magnum Freire commented that the dissemination of illegal platforms, especially by influencers, could have an even worse impact on the mental health of the population than with regulated virtual betting and casinos.
“In illegal environments there is no automatic directing of the user to any support channel, so the search for therapy or even psychiatric care for gambling disorder will be innocuous, it will not exist, increasingly isolating the individual and reducing the entry points for treatment”, he states.
The nature of illegality linked to prohibited platforms can even impact the social perception of the player himself.
Jéssica Macaxeira stated in a note: "I am aware of the MP, yes! But I had contracts in progress that I needed to fulfill, and I have always valued responsibility and commitment to what I undertake. Therefore, I chose to fulfill my contractual obligations until the end, but I will not continue after these contracts."
