Lottery in Brazil
Because in 2011 Brazilians reached new records on betting in the lottery, in 2012, the government stimulates the practice through incentives, as allowing people to bet online, for example. Find in this article why lottery in Brazil is so popular and if a foreign can participate.
Why Brazilians bet that much?
The dream of getting rich is not only from the Brazilian nation, but yes, they truly believe that getting rich is easier than other people think. That happens because Brazilians tend to not correlate money to hard work, so they think it is better to enrich by other means, as winning a heritage or a lottery.
According to the government, in 2011, bets reached the highest number in Brazilian lottery history, raising almost BRL 10 billion. Part of the money is applied in public sectors as education, culture, sports, and social security. Approximately 48 % of the money is dedicated to ministries for the country's improvement, and only 32% of the award goes to the winner.
It was very common to see bingo businesses and casinos everywhere in the country, but since 2002, they were forbidden by the government owing to complaints about the relation of those establishments owners with political parties and criminal gangs.
Other reasons were about the issues those practices were bringing to population, once a lot of people started loosing everything they had due to addiction on that practice. In Brazil, there are groups that help games addicted.
What are the major lotteries in Brazil?
There are many gambling games in Brazil, including very famous illegal ones, as Jogo do Bicho, for example. The game consists on betting on an animal that corresponds to a number, which, combined to other numbers drawn, indicate the winner combination. Jogo do Bicho is totally forbidden in the country, but it is a very popular and job creating activity. Also, some authorities connive to that reality, letting that practice happen as it was legal.
Caixa Econômica Federal Lottery
The government, through Caixa Econômica Federal bank, has ten fixed types of lottery. There are some rumors that the bank is trying to implement an online system of bets to stimulate younger people (of age) to bet on lotteries.
Among these lotteries, those are the most popular:
Mega-Sena
Being the most famous one, Mega-Sena pays the highest cash prizes of the country. These lottery is also famous due to the special prize that the government pay on New Year, being the highest prize of the year. In 2011, the New Year cash prize was of BRL 177,6 million.
The cash prize is drown on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the minimum bet, of six numbers, costs BRL 2.00. The punter must hit the six number to win and after that, the prize prescribe ninety days after the raffle.
Timemania
Being the soccer country, it would be impossible to not have a lottery prize related to that. Timemania is a lottery prize that the punter choose a team and ten numbers. If the team and numbers chosen are the same as the drown, winner receives the prize.
In that modality, the punter bet 10 numbers to concur for 7. The cash prize is drown on Wednesdays and Saturdays after 8:00pm, and the bet costs BRL 2.00.
Quina
The prize is very similar to Mega-Sena, but there are only five numbers to reach. There are six drowns per week starting on Monday and finishing on Saturday, all of them at 8:00pm.
In that lottery game, punters can bet on five, six or seven numbers to reach only five, and the minimum bet costs BRL 0.75. As the game is of one week, you can choose if you want to buy all of the days or only one.
Are foreign allowed to participate?
Anyone above 18 years old can bet on the lottery in Brazil. The only point that is important is to have a CPF, once 30% of the prize must be paid to the government as Imposto de Renda (Income Tax), otherwise, the foreign will have the income tax withheld at source.