Jogo do Bicho celebrated 129 years of operation on July 3rd.

This Saturday, July 3rd, the jogo do bicho (animal game) celebrates 129 years of operation, considered the most popular lottery system in Brazil. The first draw took place on a Sunday, July 3rd, 1892, and the winning animal was the ostrich.

The game emerged alongside the young Brazilian Republic. Initially practiced innocently as a marketing tool, it grew into a parallel market that generates billions of reais annually, despite having both critics and admirers. Currently, the game is part of popular culture and helps finance cultural events such as the Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro.

The first version of the jogo do bicho (animal game) emerged at the end of the 19th century when Baron João Batista de Drummond needed something to stimulate visits to the Vila Isabel zoo. The Baron was an enterprising man, considered ahead of his time and known for having freed all his slaves years before abolition, but he desperately needed more money to save the park.

Drummond adapted the idea of ​​the Flower Lottery from the Mexican Manuel Ismael Zevada and, to motivate the public, began to hold a daily draw. An image of one of the animals was placed in a box in the morning, and at the end of the afternoon it was announced to the visitors which animal had been drawn. Thus was born the very Brazilian jogo do bicho (animal game). Regarding the preference for animals, the Baron said at the time to the Diário do Commércio newspaper: “Flowers are beautiful. But animals are man's suburbs, our relatives.”

The ticket featured an image of one animal from a pool of 25 animals at the zoo; whoever had that animal printed on their ticket won. This system was important because the zoo's budget had been cut by the government, and without increased visitation, the animals would go hungry. The raffle solved the problem.

Whoever had a ticket with the same animal as the one in the box won a cash prize up to 20 times greater than the ticket price. The amount represented more than a low-income worker earned in a year of work and, therefore, attracted the attention of the population, who began to talk about it and frequent the zoo. The raffle ended up being so successful that it attracted more attention than the zoo itself.

Therefore, the game became more dynamic, and visitors had the opportunity to choose the animals they would bet on. Popular superstitions became part of the betting, as dreams or premonitions that people had ended up influencing their choices. The raffle soon became a craze, with tickets being sold in shops throughout the city and not just at the zoo. City shops invested in the idea and began to hold parallel raffles to the one held by the Baron. The lottery was so popular that every day a crowd gathered to hear the results, and the trams worked extra hours to serve the population.

The fun was so widespread that even President Marshal Floriano Peixoto visited the zoo to watch the lottery draw. But the fad soon created enemies; a campaign was launched in newspapers to combat the game. Just 19 days after its creation, the jogo do bicho already had its critics accusing it of being a threat to public morals.

The big problem with raffles was that they were seen as gambling and therefore condemned by the morals and customs of that time. As a consequence, the practice was repressed by the government of the time at the end of the 1890s, but it was too late; it had already become too popular to be restricted. Even so, the activity fluctuated between prohibition and freedom for the following decades, somewhat on the fringes of society, but still very popular.

One of the reasons for the game's success was that it allowed people with little money to bet just a few coins. Since poverty was widespread at the time, it was a cheap form of entertainment. Because certain numbers became very popular due to their symbolic meaning (the number of Getúlio Vargas's tomb, for example), a betting limit was created to prevent the bookmakers from going bankrupt. One of the reasons it was popular was that it was one of the few activities without class distinction in early 20th-century society, which fueled its popular appeal.

On October 3, 1941, Decree-Law No. 3.688, issued by President Getúlio Vargas, made gambling a "criminal offense," and betting increased even more. The prohibition contrasted with the government's attitude towards casinos, likely driven by a political moralism that was strong at the time, linked to the defense of morality and good customs.

This year marks 80 years since the ban, and this fact has not altered the landscape of illegal gambling in Brazil; on the contrary. The prohibition has not been assimilated by society, and the law has indirectly ended up helping those responsible for the bets.

Although it is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and even imprisonment, betting on the jogo do bicho (animal lottery) is not considered a crime, but rather a less serious offense.

The essence and form of the game remain the same as in the time of Baron Drummond, with the same 25 animals; however, it is now based on regional draws and the Federal Lottery. Each animal corresponds to 4 numbers from 00 to 99. There are several ways to bet, and the prize received depends on the difficulty of each bet.

The game's popularity grew so much that it entered popular culture, and everyday expressions began to form, such as the famous "deu zebra" (it was a zebra), which means something impossible happened. The association between the number 24 and homosexuality originated from the jogo do bicho (animal lottery), since 24 is one of the numbers associated with the deer in the game.

In 1958, the jogo do bicho (animal lottery) was legalized in the state of Rio de Janeiro by Governor Roberto Silveira, who allowed the practice on the condition that funds be allocated to social programs. However, during the government of Jânio Quadros, the game was once again banned nationwide.

Paraíba became the only state to allow the jogo do bicho (animal lottery). Castelo Branco reportedly asked the governor at the time to ban the game in the state as well, but the governor refused because it would create a lack of jobs for the population.

In the 30s, the jogo do bicho (animal lottery) formed a partnership with Carnival. The first person to associate the two was the bicheiro (illegal lottery operator) Natal da Portela, who created a Carnival group called "Vai como pode" (Go as you can), which would be the embryo of the Portela Samba School. Natal worked as a train conductor, but after losing an arm in an accident, he was fired. To survive, he became a bicheiro, rose in his new profession, and became the owner of his own business. When a close friend, also an admirer of samba, died, Natal decided to invest in Portela as a way to honor him.

Natal created the figure of the bookmaker sponsoring samba. Soon other bookmakers also began to do the same, seeking greater public approval. The partnership with the jogo do bicho (illegal lottery) allowed the Rio de Janeiro Carnival to prosper; until then a more popular festival, the money from the game made the celebration beloved even among the upper classes. In 1976, after Natal's death, he was honored in a parade, but not by Portela, but by its rival Beija-Flor.

The gambling market has become so lucrative that, even though it's prohibited, it's estimated to generate around R$ 12 billion annually. The activity employs over 400 people in the country. Like Natal, some gambling bosses have become legendary figures in Rio de Janeiro's culture; the most famous was Castor de Andrade, nicknamed "Doctor Castor," and considered the biggest gambling boss in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1911, the jurist and academic José Macedo Soares observed that gambling had become so ingrained in Brazilian social habits that it was impossible to eradicate it through law and police repression. The concept expressed by this jurist 109 years ago has never been more relevant today.

"The game has proliferated and taken root so deeply that it certainly won't be through legal maneuvers or arbitrary police actions that the government will be able to eradicate it from our customs."

Following the trend in other countries, legalization should guarantee the continuation of this type of gambling with the current operators. The jogo do bicho (animal lottery) has its own peculiarities that must be taken into account in its legalization: it's a banked game with risks and a wide reach. Furthermore, the State would have difficulty competing with a type of gambling that has been operating in Brazil for many years.

Currently, around 90% of bets in the jogo do bicho (animal lottery) are placed through POS (Point of Sale or Point of Service) devices, similar to credit card payment machines, or on tablets.

Even on another platform, 'what's written still counts'.

(*) Magnho José is editor of BNLData and Carlos André de Oliveira Esberard is a journalism graduate from UFF-Niterói (Sources: BBC, Wikipedia, Super Abril, O Jogo do Bicho, Isto É, Revista Galileu and R7)