The Portuguese Association of Betting and Online Games (APAJO) filed a criminal complaint this Thursday against YouTuber João Barbosa, known as Numeiro. The accusation concerns the dissemination of the illegal betting site “Vem Aposta”.
Event with illegal sponsorship, but approved by a public entity?
The market is increasingly populated with betting sites, but the companies and services behind these URLS are illegal. This is the case of the betting site “Vem Aposta”, according to JN. As such, this criminal complaint results from the disclosure of the betting site in question, also mentioned in the complaint, at an event in which the influencer will debut as a boxer.
The boxing event will take place this Friday, at Campo Pequeno, in Lisbon, at 9 pm. João Barbosa, an influencer known as Numeiro, will fight against Bulgarian boxer Kalin Simeonov and has appealed to his followers – more than half a million on Instagram alone – to place bets on who will win the duel, on the “Vem Apostar” website. However, this site does not have a license granted by the Gaming Regulation and Inspection Service (SRIJ), a necessary condition for any operator to offer online gaming and betting in Portugal.
This fight was displayed on the poster, on the website dedicated to its promotion [Duel Boxing] and even at your press conference [que decorreu esta quinta-feira no Lisbon Marriot Hotel] the image of an illegal operator open to registering minors. Furthermore, one of the participants in the fight promoted on his social networks the existence of bets with the same unlicensed operator in Portugal, which, nevertheless, is regularly promoted by this influencer and which presents Portuguese payment methods such as MBWay and Multibanco.
The president of APAJO said this Thursday to JN.
This is not the first time that the YouTuber has promoted illegal betting sites. In September 2021, he advertised “Bettilt” on his social networks through a contest on Instagram, through which he intended to offer three iPhones 12 Pro to his followers. That same year, two months earlier, João Barbosa also closed the sports betting consultancy Dynasty Bet Consulting, which he owned and through which he sold football predictions for hundreds of euros, following accusations of fraud. Previously, and on Telegram, “Numeiro” had advertised “1XBET”, which has since been closed.
This same fight with the Bulgarian boxer had already been the subject of controversy when the ‘influencer’ announced a draw of a Ferrari. Participants had to buy a €9.99 ticket to be “in a chance to win” the car and to watch the fight online. Shortly afterwards, João Barbosa announced that he was the target of “hackers” and, therefore, the platform was suspended.
This Thursday, JN requested information about the advertising contest from the Regional Secretariat for Finance, Planning and Public Administration of the Azores – which allegedly approved the draw – but, for now, it was not possible to speak with the person responsible for Division of Administration, Passports and Licenses.
2023-12-22 14:10:14
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