Winners And Losers: Is Brazil's Animal Lottery An Endangered Species?The Unfortunate Waning Popularity Of Zoo Gambling |
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Everyone loves playing the lottery, even those of us who know better.
Personally, I find it impossible to keep from spending a couple of bucks on a ticket when the prize pool hits, say, a billion dollars. Right now, lotteries are legal in 45 American states, and, according to the Lotto Library, there are around 180 legal lotteries around the world.
Predictably, though, the illegal lotteries seem more romantic to some. Back in the day, before guys wearing suits began drawing winning numbers on TV, the number was derived from some version of the local racetrack handle or a few digits extracted from the stock market’s closing price.
But with legit lottery tickets as easy to buy as Hershey bars at the local bodega, the illicit versions have thinned considerably.
Jogo do Bicho
Among the last vestiges of the mob-run numbers game: Brazil’s so-called animal lottery, known in the local tongue as Jogo do Bicho.
It dates back to the 19th century and was initially put on by the owner of a local zoo to encourage people to visit. But there was just one problem. The lottery became more popular than the zoo.
Basically, it works like this: There are 25 animals. Each animal represents four numbers – the bull, for example, is 81 through 84. If, say, the drawn number is 83, each player who selected the bull gets a 20-1 payoff.
Of course, it’s not going to pay even money. The Brazilian mob needs to take its cut.
For generations, the animal lottery was part of the culture. There could be six drawings per day. Judges were bribed to keep from shutting down the animal lottery. Bloody turf wars took place so that criminal factions could hold onto control.
And there was good reason for that. The illegal lottery was said to have generated some $2 billion worth of wagers each year. In fact, it is still many bookmakers’ main source of income.
Animal Lottery Under Threat
Now, according to the New York Times, technology is threatening to do what the judges could not: Kill off the animal lottery.
Brazil is in the midst of a digital gambling frenzy. Everyone with any gamble in them is hitting up the slot machines on their phones – which, essentially, are lotteries that can be played countless times per day – and betting relentlessly.
Digital gambling is said to generate $25 billion in wagers annually. Up against splashy screen designs, the animal lottery is sadly old-fashioned and heading for the glue factory.
I’m not sure whether anyone has cooked up a digital iteration that uses the jogo do bicho format. If no one has, someone should do it STAT. Even better, raise up the odds of the non-digital game and try winning back customers by making it impossibly alluring.
Look, I get the appeal of playing slots on the smartphone, but I do have a soft spot for the old-fashioned way of doing things. I like the idea of placing a bet with some shady dude and being handed back a scrap of paper with my spirit animal written on it. Then getting paid off in well-circulated bills instead of a digital transaction.
I have not yet visited Brazil, but when I do, I hope the animal lottery is still trundling along. I’m going for Camel one day and Tiger the next. If I don’t win? Well, there’s always Monkey, or perhaps digital gambling if I get truly desperate.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of five books (“The Advantage Players” out soon) and has worked for publications that include Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on technology, gambling, and business — with a particular interest in spots where all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is currently in development as a feature film.
*Images: National Library of Brazil, National Library of Congress via Courthouse News
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