SAO PAULO (AP) — “King” doesn’t disclose his real name. Even clients of his Sao Paulo newsstand have to call him by his moniker. The Brazilian online sports gambling addict lowered his profile after a loan shark threatened to put bullets in his head if he didn’t pay up.
Broke and embarrassed, King sought treatment and support earlier this year. “I was once addicted to slot machines, but then sports betting was so easy that I changed. I got carried away all the time," he told The Associated Press.
King’s story is that of many vulnerable Brazilians in recent years. The country has become the third-biggest market in the world for sports betting, following the U.S.
and the U.K., a report by data analysis company Comscore said last year.
But unlike those countries, rampant advertising and sponsorship have been coupled with an unregulated market. The government is now — belatedly, some say — striving to get a handle on the epidemic. On a recent evening, King's Gamblers Anonymous meeting took place in an improvised classroom inside a church, with coffee and cookies to keep everyone awake, and supportive messages scrawled onto the blackboard.
One that's become ubiquitous in Brazil and beyond: “Only for today I will avoid the first bet.” King and other attendees, all Christian, started a prayer and the meeting began. King said his financial problems arose from his addiction to online sports betting, chiefly on soccer.
“I miss the adrenaline rush when I don’t .