THE (I)LEGALITY OF ONLINE GAMBLING IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This academic study investigates the legality or illegality of online gambling under the provisions of article 50 of the Criminal Offenses Law, taking into account the significant increase in the dissemination of online gambling on Brazilian social networks. The general objective of this work is to analyze the possibility of applying the Criminal Offenses Law to virtual gambling under the Brazilian legal system. As for the methodology, qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied, since it is essential to understand the understandings of the Brazilian legal system, to discover which measure is applied in the specific case, considering the spread of these games of chance in the virtual environment. The method used is deductive, with a bibliographic and documentary data collection technique on doctrines, laws and jurisprudence. Regarding the results achieved, there is a setback in the legislation to clearly define the concept, in order to separate what is a simple bet, game of random chance or games with results previously programmed to lead the player to lose. It is concluded that there is a relevant social problem consisting of the exposure of a large number of people to playing games with programmed results in order to decide the results in advance.