A Brazilian court has sentenced a merchant in the state of Minas Gerais to five years in prison for laundering money derived from an illegal jogo do bicho operation, according to the ruling.
Jogo do bicho is an illegal lottery-style land-based game in Brazil, historically linked to organized crime, in which bets are placed on numbers associated with animals.
The conviction relates to activities carried out in the municipality of Carandaí over a six-year period.
Under the sentence, the court determined that the defendant maintained an illegal betting house linked to jogo do bicho and systematically converted the operation’s revenue into assets incompatible with his declared income.
Judges concluded that the individual engaged in repeated financial transactions without proof of lawful origin, including the acquisition of high-value goods.
The ruling states that the laundering scheme involved the use of third parties to conceal the origin of the funds, a common tactic used to obscure the financial trail of illegal gambling operations.
Banking movements were described as inconsistent with the merchant’s official earnings, reinforcing the finding that the activity was designed to mask illicit proceeds.
The defendant’s name was not disclosed in the court decision, and it was therefore not possible to contact his legal defense. The sentence is still subject to appeal.
In a separate case, Brazilian police shut down an illegal bingo hall in Campinas for the fourth time, seizing dozens of slot-style machines and betting equipment, illustrating the persistence of underground land-based gambling despite repeated enforcement actions.
Brazil’s regulated betting sector generated BR9.95bn in tax revenue in 2025, according to federal data
