Beasts of Prey or Rational Animals? Private Governance in Brazil’s Jogo do Bicho Danilo Freire∗ 19 March 2017 Abstract is work presents a rational choice account for the jogo do bicho (‘animal game’), possibly the largest illegal loery game in the world. Over 120 years, the jogo do bicho has grown into a multimillion-dollar business and exerted a signicant impact on the Brazilian society. e loery has been a major sponsor of the Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro, which is among the world’s most famous popular festivals, and it has remained an important driver of state corruption in the country. is work investigates the institutions that have caused the jogo do bicho’s notable growth and long-term survival outside the boundaries of the Brazilian law. It also explains the emergence of the informal rules that govern the game as well as their enforcement mechanisms. Keywords: Brazil; criminal organisations; gambling; jogo do bicho; private governance JEL Classication Codes: D72, K42, P26, P37, Z00 ∗PhD Candidate, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS London, United Kingdom. Email address:
[email protected]. I would like to thank Paulo Roberto Araujo, Guilherme Arbache, Diogo Costa, Guilherme Duarte, Robert McDonnell, Maur´ıcio Pantaleao˜ and David Skarbek for their helpful comments. I gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Council for Scientic and Technological Development and the School of Politics and Economics at King’s College London. 1 1 Introduction In 1892, Baron Joao˜ Batista de Viana Drummond came up with a new idea to fund his cash-strapped zoo.