Brazil betting ban fails to stop Vorcaro777 site

An illegal betting site using the name and image of Banco Master banker Daniel Vorcaro went live through a company registered to a beneficiary of the Bolsa Família and Gás do Povo programmes. The company was opened five days after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the Medida Provisória (MP) that banned the online betting market in the country. The platform, called Vorcaro777, was registered abroad with a creation date of 6 October.

Payments to the platform were intermediated by Sants SCD, a financial institution authorised by the Banco Central, the report said. The company used as a front, Flexpix Serviços Digitais, is registered in Bela Vista do Paraíso, in Paraná, but is listed in the name of a resident of the Baixada Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro. The woman said by telephone that she does not own any company and that her name was used without authorisation.

Vorcaro777 takes bets on the result of Brazil's presidential elections, a category that is prohibited even for betting operators authorised by the Ministério da Fazenda. The site also offers casino games including “tigrinho” and “aviãozinho”.

Vorcaro's defence said it was unaware of the site and that the banker's name is being used improperly. The Ministério da Fazenda said that “as providências cabíveis estão sendo adotadas”.

Sants SCD has among its responsible officers Krosley Cândido dos Santos, a former partner of Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, known as the “faraó dos bitcoins”, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The report contacted two Sants directors and its official contact channel without receiving a response. The Banco Central was approached and also did not comment.

After being contacted, Sants SCD said it had immediately ended its relationship with Flexpix. In a statement, the institution said it “não compactua com apostas ilegais ou qualquer atividade irregular” and explained that Flexpix “é um gateway de pagamentos” that contracted its infrastructure “para atender seus próprios usuários e estabelecimentos comerciais”. Sants added that its role “limitava-se à prestação de serviços de conta de pagamento e ao processamento de transações” and that the former client “atua com autonomia, por sua conta e risco”. The institution warned that, “mesmo após o encerramento do relacionamento, a plataforma mencionada permanece em operação, com pagamentos destinados a diversas empresas, sem intermediação da Sants SCD”.

Lula announced the total prohibition of betting sites on 25 September, nine days before the first round of the elections. The MP was issued a year and a half after the formal betting market began operating under government regulation. The day after the MP was signed, more than 1,600 new illegal sites were registered. Four days after the MP, the federal government said it had requested the blocking of 5,209 betting sites. On 6 October, the same date as Vorcaro777's creation, the government announced it had requested the blocking of 13,241 illegal sites since 25 September. Government technicians say criminal groups behind clandestine betting sites are able to replace taken-down links almost immediately.

The report describes Vorcaro777 as fitting the profile of so-called “bets chinesas”: platforms launched from abroad that operate beyond the reach of supervision and do not identify their responsible parties. Such sites do not require bettor identification, allow registration with poor data, do not control screen time and do not disclose information on prize amounts. Estadão reported in 2024 that this type of platform commits fraud against beneficiaries of social programmes, stealing personal data or offering gains in exchange for documents.

The Associação Nacional de Jogos e Loterias (ANJL) assesses that the illegal market has been driven by “inércia do governo federal no combate e à falta de concorrência do mercado legalizado”. Bernardo Freire, the association's legal consultant, said that “o apostador continua jogando” and that “o único jeito consagrado no mundo de combater a ilegalidade é com a regulamentação, com o mercado regulamentado existindo e sendo fortalecido”. Freire concluded that “um site desse mostra que o governo não está preparado para combater a ilegalidade”.