Brazil study flags exposure to unlicensed betting operators on Instagram

A study in Brazil found that Instagram recommendations can act as a funnel toward betting platforms operating outside the country’s regulated market. For PSPs and payment teams, the useful part is not the social-media drama; it is that distribution channels can surface unlicensed operators to users after a handful of interactions.

1. A study from the Rede em Jogo project, prepared by CondadoLab at PUC-Rio and published by The Intercept, analyzed more than 55 accounts and found that 84% of the most recommended operators were operating irregularly in Brazil.
2. To determine which profiles were outside the regulated market, the researchers compared the accounts they identified with the official list of companies authorized by the Secretaria de Premios y Apuestas (SPA).
3. The 100 profiles with the largest presence in recommendations together have more than 6 million followers and 114 posts. They fall into three groups: betting operators, specialized content creators, and media outlets covering the gambling market.
4. One case in the study is Pedro, a creator who uses his stories to promote access to a paid Telegram community. There he offers sports predictions, odds information, and operator recommendations. The subscription is usually advertised at 397 reais per month (about 77 dollars), but is promoted through a plan priced at 14,91 reais per month (about 3 dollars).
5. The research says this model is repeated across many Instagram-recommended profiles. Some present themselves as tipsters, sports operators, or “professional bettors” and sell memberships, automated tools, bots, and private communities. The study also highlights memes, parodies, and short videos, noting that this format can normalize risky practices and make certain problematic betting behaviors less visible.

The same pattern was found among profiles tied to online casinos. One example is João, a creator focused on Tigrinho, who posts content that simulates gaming sessions with large prizes and points to specific moments or visual cues as signs of possible wins. The study says many of the detected operator profiles belong to international companies that may be regulated in other jurisdictions but do not have permission to operate in Brazil.