‘A casino in every kitchen’

BRAZIL: ONE IN NINE PEOPLE LOSE THEMSELVES - AND ALL THEY OWN - IN ONLINE GAMBLING

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Fernanda, a cleaner from Rio de Janeiro, lists off the items she sold to feed her online gambling addiction, one of millions of Brazilians caught in a betting craze that has swept the nation. “I lost everything,” said the 34 year old, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. “I sold my TV, my washing machine, everything in my home.”

Six years after Brazil legalised online sports betting, Latin America's biggest economy is battling what Finance Minister Fernando Haddad has called a “pandemic”, prompting the government to tighten the screws on the sector.

Brazil's central bank estimates that 24 million out of Brazil's 212 million inhabitants - roughly one in nine people - bet online on sporting events or on games like Aviator, Fernanda's favourite, where players gamble on the flight of a virtual airplane.

Online gambling “is going to empty Brazilians' fridges”, warned Joao Pedro Nascimento, president of Brazil's securities regulator.