With the increased reach of social media in recent years, running ads has become an important source of income for digital influencers. With millions of followers on social platforms, some manage to earn thousands of reais just by promoting products and services from the most varied segments.
There are influencers who even defy the legislation in force by promoting certain virtual gambling, which are not allowed in the country. According to Splash, by Uol, Carlinhos Maia and Viih Tube, there are some influencers of national relevance that are part of this list.
The two mentioned influencers are helping to popularize the so-called “little rockets and little planes”. Also according to Uol, the player bets on a take-off of rockets or planes. The higher it is, the more money the player pockets. Recently, the website Uol published an extensive article detailing the practice and all related problems. Check it out below:
Carlinhos Maia and Viih Tube publish online games banned in Brazil
With the growth of social networks in recent years, advertising on the web has become the main breadwinner of many influencers. Some of them, with millions of followers, can profit thousands of reais just by promoting their products. There are even those who defy the limits of the law by promoting virtual games of chance, which are prohibited in Brazil. In this list, big names, such as Carlinhos Maia and Viih Tube, constantly publicize disputes that have become popular on the internet, such as the so-called small rockets and small planes.
In them, the person bets on a takeoff of rockets or planes. The higher it is, the more money the person earns. However, if it explodes and falls before the person finishes the bet, he loses. The central question is: there is no way to know how long the rocket will rise, much less when it will explode. That is, the person depends exclusively on his luck. That’s why they are considered games of chance, according to experts interviewed by Splash.
Since 1941, legislation has made it a criminal offense to “establish or exploit gambling in a public place or accessible to the public”. In addition to rockets, casinos, roulettes and other forms of betting involving luck, whether online or in person, are also not allowed. The exceptions are the games organized by the State through lottery, as is the case of Mega-Sena.
Despite being illegal, the small rockets are available to be accessed by anyone in the national territory. The explanation is simple: the domains of the sites are allocated in countries that allow and regulate the exploitation of gambling, such as Curacao, the Dutch island in the Caribbean, Cyprus, in the Middle East, Macau, an autonomous region in southern China, and Malta, in Europe.
Splash found that some companies that explore the online gaming market have offices in Brazil, aiming at future legislation favorable to the practice, but most are headquartered outside the country and hire Brazilian advertising agencies to bridge the gap with influencers here.
So, can influencers get in trouble for publicizing online games banned in the country?
“Although games can be of chance and prohibited in the country, as they are foreign domain, they do not constitute a criminal practice. Therefore, there is no impediment to contracted advertising. Influencers cannot be held responsible for any damage caused to the player”, says Daniel Gerber, partner at Daniel Gerber Advogados, a specialist in Economic Criminal Law and a master’s in Criminal Sciences.
The former BBB Viih Tube has been promoting for at least a month the game JetX (rocket), from the Cbet.gg website, but has also already promoted the Aviator from the EstrelaBet website, in addition to having a birthday party sponsored by F12.bet, a website that also promotes gambling. The three sites are operated by companies registered in Curaçao. Carlinhos Maia has his image associated with the game Aviator on the website of the bookmaker Betano, which sponsors national football clubs and is operated by a company established in Malta.
Marçal Carvalho, criminal lawyer and professor of criminal procedure and criminal law, agrees that there is no criminal liability when someone is hired to advertise a product that is not illegal because the brand is located outside Brazil. Furthermore, it is understood that people cannot be harmed when they know they are betting on a game of chance.
“If the site is not located in Brazil and the legislation is silent in the sense of regulating these conducts, it would be very complicated for gambling to be held accountable with regard to consumer injury, because he consumes a product that comes from outside the country. Without legislation that can curb or regulate this type of conduct, it would be like complaining to Procon that they were tricked into the animal game. This is practically impossible”, he argues.
However, Marçal assesses that there may be liability via consumer law “if advertising disguises the game of chance and states that the game is based exclusively on the agent’s skill, therefore, you have the possibility of triggering Procon”.
Still, the fact that the sites commissioned the advertising from outside the country can make the investigation difficult. “As this is not regulated, these sites continue to operate outside the law, but without punishment”, says Marcello Vieira de Mello, founding partner of GVM Advogados and a master’s degree in Business Law from UFMG.
Splash has also sought, in the last four weeks, Conar (National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation), a civil society body that aims to ensure ads that respect the law and have social responsibility, but there was no response before the publication of this report.
Irresponsibility in the ads
In games of chance, you are more likely to lose than you are to win and make a profit. Even so, in the advertising carried by Viih Tube, in its Instagram Stories, the former BBB writes “come to play and make money” while showing that she made more than twice the amount played. In one of the bets shown, she plays R$50 in the game and claims to have won R$130.
For Paula Melgaço, PhD in Clinical Psychology, this type of publicity raises the debate around social responsibility and morality. The influencers’ videos do not say, at any time, that betting can have a negative impact on someone’s life.
“From a legal point of view, there is nothing to be done. From a moral and ethical point of view, there is no concern on the part of who can influence millions of followers… They think: ‘Paying well, what’s the harm?’ Influencers don’t care about the consequences of what they say, but they have great power in other people’s minds”, he opines.
She also analyzes that the advertisements do not address the harmful side, which would be the possibility of losing money and addiction, because what sells is the romanticized and idealized discourse.” What sells is the game as entertainment, fun, or ‘you can make a second income’ and ‘you can make money just like me.’ Considering the country’s economic situation, ways to make easy money on the internet can be seductive”, he says.
Magnho José, president of the Instituto Brasileiro Jogo Legal and editor of BNLData, sees online games only as a form of entertainment and defends their regulation so that the State can control the activity and collect taxes. He sees irresponsibility in the discourse of some advertisements.
“It is irresponsible for you to say that a person will earn millions of reais with little fireworks. The little rocket is a game of chance.” (Magnho Jose)
He also warns that influencers are hired to advertise courses that would teach how to profit in online games, which is impossible to teach, since those games depend on luck.
“Individuals are launching betting, rocket, roulette courses. They are harmful to the gaming market. These smart guys hire influencers to publicize these courses that are a scam. There’s no way to teach how to win at roulette, for example. game of chance that, in our view, should be used as entertainment and responsibly”, adds Magnho.
This is the case of Carlinhos Maia. He does not directly promote the Aviator (nicknamed little rocket) from the Betano website, but a course sold by the Primontent company that claims to teach how to play and have a robot to show the exact moment to bet, all done through an exclusive group on Telegram.
When promoting the course, he says that “if the guy has a good head, every month he makes a little salary playing” and also claims to have friends who live on gambling. On the Reclame Aqui website, it is possible to find complaints associating the name of Carlinhos Maia to the Betano website and to the producer of the Primontent course, claiming that the losses are greater than the gains.
In contact with Splash, the website Reclame Aqui revealed the main problems in relation to the betting site sector (in this case, the data involves sports betting sites, which were recently legalized, and online gambling, which are still prohibited).
“In 2021 and the first seven months of 2022, the order of the top five reasons for consumer complaints is the same: payment, service, website usability, problems when betting and false advertising,” Reclame Aqui said in a statement.
The other side
The influencer Carlinhos Maia did not comment. Splash also tried to contact Viih Tube and its advisors, but there was no response until the publication of this report. The space remains open and the text will be updated if the influencers and their advisors return the contact.
Sports betting vs online gambling
It is worth differentiating between sports betting and online gambling. Sports betting does not depend exclusively on the bettor’s luck and was legalized in December 2018 by the then president Michel Temer. Unlike online gambling that remains illegal.
Therefore, sports betting advertisements, which are increasingly common on the internet and TV, do not break the law. Sports betting sites still maintain their domains outside the country because despite the practice being legalized in the country, it is not yet regulated, that is, there are no norms or rules for companies to operate in the market.
