Just like capirinha, samba and Carnaval, the jogo do bicho is a very Brazilian invention, Otávio. This lottery was created in 1892 by Baron João Batista Viana Drummond, founder of the Rio de Janeiro Zoo. The intention behind the idea was noble: the baron wanted to attract more people to the zoo, compensating for the cut in government funds, which maintained the place. To feed all the fauna, Drummond had a drawing of 25 animals printed on the tickets. Promptly at 5 pm, I would draw one of them. Whoever had the winning figure won 20 times the entry fee. “In the beginning, every visitor to the zoo received a note with an image of an animal. But from 1894 onwards, everyone could buy as many tickets as they wanted. From that year on, the animal game stopped being a simple lottery and turned into a game of chance”, says film screenwriter Elena Soárez, author of a master’s thesis on the subject. To combat betting, which had become a craze throughout the city, the City Hall prevented the draw in 1895. But it did the trick: instead of weakening gambling, the ban strengthened bicheiros. If before they bought tickets at the zoo and resold them around the city, from that moment on they got together to hold the raffle on their own. Not even the threat of imprisonment for bicheiros with the criminalization of gambling, in 1946, managed to stop gambling. At that point, the animal was already a craze installed in the popular imagination, supported by a network of personal relationships and the infallible “Brazilian way” to circumvent repression. The bug really caught on in the 80s: with the stratospheric profits from betting, the strong men of the game joined forces with organized crime. They launched tentacles in at least six areas: drug and arms trafficking, real estate speculation, prostitution, electronic games and clandestine transport, with vans and cars. Even though it is banned, the animal continues to this day with three draws per day, representing a small slice of the dirty money that feeds criminals. “With the proliferation of official lotteries, electronic games and bingos, the animal declined and lost a lot of public”, says Elena.
Understand why this prohibited lottery is so successful in the country
PULO DO CATO
Despite being clandestine, the jogo do bicho has survived for more than a century thanks to the relationships between bicheiros and gamblers. Generally, game “pointers” and their “clients” are people from the same neighborhood, who discuss bets together. The prize is paid on time — a basic requirement to maintain the draw’s credibility — and traditional scorers know their customers’ guesses by heart. Some gamblers protect bookies from the police, hiding them in their homes when inspections pass.
FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH
Because of the repression, the result of the animal is disclosed in a disguised way, so as not to attract the attention of the police. One of the customs is to announce the animals drawn in classifieds or on clandestine radios. In some neighborhoods, to prevent the scorers from being caught with proof of the crime, the bicheiros post the results of the draw in a public place – a tree, for example. Each bettor plucks a leaf with the bug of the day and calmly takes their “fruit” home
ANIMAL VISION
Anyone who studies the game guarantees: the possibility of associating the animals with everyday life and even with dreams was fundamental for fixing the game in the popular imagination. For bettors, everything is a reason for a guess. Have you been betrayed by a fake friend? Throw in the bear. Did you dream of running away or chasing? Bet on the dog. He was robbed? Stick in the cat, because the feline represents the thief. In the wisdom of the streets, the combinations are endless…