Young man loses money due to betting addiction and reports having lived on the streets: 'I got it on loan'

A 27-year-old young man lost money due to his gambling addiction and ended up living on the streets in São José do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo.

The man, who will not be identified in the report, kept between 15 and 20 gambling platform applications organized on his cell phone during the most critical phase of his life.

In an interview with TV TEM, he revealed that he was homeless for 24 days because he was unable to pay the rent for his residence.

"In the beginning, I won a little and I kept going. There were days when I won, there were days when I lost. There was one time when I even had to take out a CLT loan. I took R$3,000 and put it all in at once. I think it was the worst bet I ever made. I lost everything. That's where I put my hand to my conscience and said: 'My God, what have I done with my life?'", reported the young man.

At the same time, the Civil Police carried out, on October 1st, an operation in São José do Rio Preto to repress clandestine gambling. The action inspected 32 establishments and resulted in the seizure of cell phones, the execution of an arrest warrant, in addition to the preparation of police reports.

In Brazil, gambling addiction is considered a public health problem. Faced with reports of addiction and the increase in demand for treatment through the Unified Health System (SUS), the Ministry of Health expanded the service capacity from 600 to 100 thousand monthly consultations through the Meu SUS Digital application.

The weapon against addiction

The psychological disorder developed through the use of gambling, also known as ludopathy, affected around 11 million Brazilians over the age of 14, according to data for the period 2023 released by the National Alcohol and Drug Survey.

Psychiatrist Júlio César de Souza explains that, at some stages, dependence is considered a disease.

"This is a disease that is increasingly increasing and, now, it has become a public health problem. It [addiction] ends up causing significant damage, whether in the social, occupational, family or financial sphere. The person begins to waste financial assets, they begin to take out loans to be able to finance the bets", explained the doctor.

The main way to deal with the situation is to seek psychological and psychiatric treatment in the public or private network.

In the case of SUS, after a self-test that identifies signs of risk, the victim has access to psychologists, nurses and occupational therapists trained to deal with gambling disorder.

The service offers around 100,000 services to meet the demand of the population that has become affected by the growing incidence of registrations.

"The first-line treatment, which is treatment with psychotherapy, — cognitive-behavioral therapy — is to carry out a cognitive restructuring of the patient, also correcting cognitive distortions, making the patient have fewer relapses. Along with this, for those more serious cases, we can also combine drug treatment. The family needs to provide support, helping the patient to have financial control, whether by limiting expenses, limiting credit cards or removing the cell phone. The family has an important role in the treatment of this type of patient", highlighted Júlio César.

To contain the spread of the problem, the Federal Government made the Self-Exclusion tool available, accessible through the gov.br portal. The functionality allows any citizen to request the voluntary blocking of their CPF in all authorized betting houses in the country. Until the last update of this report, more than 1 million people had used the resource in Brazil.

Prohibition of betting

The Federal Government announced, on September 25th, in São Paulo (SP), the total ban on fixed-odd betting in the country, known as bets. The ban was authorized by President Lula (PT) and also includes online games and virtual casinos, such as "Jogo do Tigrinho". However, many platforms still continue to operate clandestinely in the country.