Abstract

LABRONICI, Rômulo Bulgarelli. Reason and luck in the process of betting in horse racing in Rio de Janeiro. Etnográfica [online]. 2018, vol.22, n.3, pp.481-501. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.5801.

Horse races may be seen as a privileged stance to observe and analyze questions regarding betting practices on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. The communion between a sports spectacle and a gambling market produced in the turf enables gamblers to actively participate in races through the constant production of bets. The so-called “bookmakers” are strategic spaces that allow for the daily monitoring of this activity. Horse racing gamblers use an intricate and complex classificatory process to establish their bets, especially involving both “intuitive” and “rational” elements. For an experienced gambler, the use of information, knowledge and know-how related to specific techniques is essential for the production of a good bet. Evaluations are endowed with permanent tensions between disputes and collaborations; obligations and duties; traps and solidarity. Gathered together, they can be seen as gradations of a “science.” This seems to leave little room for chance, but it also surrounds itself with “magic,” since there is always a variable, aspect or dimension that is conceived to escape in the process of conjunction between data and intuition.

Keywords : games; bets; turf; luck; Rio de Janeiro.

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