Virginia Fonseca is Brazil’s top digital influencer with more than 53 million followers on social media. But now she’s been summoned to testify before a Senate inquiry into money laundering and other alleged crimes in the thriving online betting industry in the South American nation.
Fonseca, who chats about fashion, beauty, lifestyle and motherhood to her myriad followers on YouTube and Instagram, has in addition million-dollar contracts with iGaming sports platforms to promote their betting services.
The senators interrogated the influencer about allegations that she received hefty bonuses from the sites when her followers lost their bets. Fonseca denied this was the case and declined to disclose how much she was paid by the companies.
The parliamentary inquiry that was set up in the Senate at the end of 2024 is due to wind up in two weeks, without any serious findings regarding money laundering or any other link to organised crime in the young Brazilian fixed-odds betting industry, that was legalized in 2018 and only regulated as of January 1 this year.
However, while it has no teeth, the Senate investigation has highlighted for Brazilians the questionable role their social media influencers have in encouraging people to bet their money through the online platforms that have mushroomed and made the South American country in no time the world’s fifth largest market in volume of bets, if not value.
Football Heroes
Virtually all the top influencers have cashed in on the business of using their popularity to advertise sports betting companies, as have football heroes like Neymar and Vinicius Jnr. — and even sports commentators who are household names like Galvao Bueno, the face of Betnacional, in which Flutter recently bought a controlling stake.
These public figures have immense power to draw new bettors, especially among young Brazilians, which has worried the senators who see betting spreading like a pandemic in their soccer-crazy and wager-loving population, eating up household incomes.
She began promoting Esportes da Sorte in January 2023, on an 18-month contract that has since expired. Piauí monthly news magazine reported that she drew 102,000 new bettors to the site the first time she placed a bet.
Image Rights
Esportes da Sorte Group said the contracts signed with its business partners and public figures are governed by strict confidentiality clauses, expressly prohibiting disclosure of their terms by either party, it said in a statement, adding categorically: “The influencer Virgínia Fonseca has never received any amount linked to losses or results of bettors.
“All amounts paid to the aforementioned contractor refer exclusively to the fixed consideration adjusted for the assignment of image rights, presence in advertising campaigns and dissemination on its social media channels, according to market parameters and in full compliance with the applicable legislation.”
Fonseca confirmed the 30 percent bonus existed. But she insisted it was dependent on the company doubling its profits, and in no way related to bettor losses.
“At no time did we mention losses on the part of my followers,” she told the Senate commission. “There was nothing abnormal in my contract.”
Fonseca said the bonus was never achieved and claimed she never received a penny more than the fixed amount for advertising the site in a normal contract.
Fonseca says she has never signed a contract with a betting site that was not licensed to operate in Brazil. And she affirmed that she has always made it clear in her ads that betting is prohibited for anyone under 18-years-old.
Senators on the investigating commission are seeking to extend its schedule to be able to question more witnesses. But sources in the Senate say that is not going to happen.
