But there are other shades of hues...a not so innocent side of the "bicheiros".

  Since they are ''informal'' (don´t pay tax to the ''receita'' - Brazilian IRS.) 

  Thus, I read in the press that they divided the business; some deal with the video-poker machines and with bingo, others with illegal transports,  

http://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2010/04/08/carro-de-sobrinho-de-castor-de-andrade-explode-no-rio-um-morre.jhtm

http://oglobo.globo.com/rio/mat/2010/04/11/apos-atentado-rogerio-andrade-pede-garantia-de-vida-916315462.asp  click in the link, within this newspaper) feature, at

(Veículos ficaram totalmente destruídos. Veja as imagens )

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_de_Andrade

http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/noticias/0,,OI4371552-EI5030,00-Familia+disputa+negocios+de+Castor+de+Andrade+ha+anos.html

http://oglobo.globo.com/rio/mat/2006/10/12/286077440.asp

   So, I´m conviced that this kind of game of chance (in Brazil is "jogo de azar" - curiously azar in English stands for "bad luck"...)

   Well, once in a lifetime it´s ok, no problem.  But there are guys that are "addicted" to the game.  

    They bet their bottom Real in the expectation of being returned back (up to 3000 times what they bet initially...)  too bad that these bettors get a hundred times their investment, on and off.    They get a high, they get excited.

     But sometime they won´t hit the number (animal) thousand times in a row...but they are hooked to it, they can´t leave (lacks willpower, and the certainty that they will get 10, 100, 1000 times what they ''invested'' is blinding...

      Like they say (in English) a suck is born every minute...