Rio de Janeiro police target new target: hard-to-catch stuffed animals

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro, a city already infamous for street muggings, corrupt politicians, ruthless militias and Kalashnikov-wielding drug traffickers, has a new public enemy: stuffed animals. Or, more precisely, the joystick-controlled claw machines that distribute them.

On Wednesday, Rio police carried out 16 raids targeting the machines, which excite children and adults alike. But police say the claw machines scam users who believe that scoring stuffed animals is a test of skill. In fact, they are games of chance – just like slot machines – and therefore illegal, according to the press service.

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Police seized slot machines, laptops, tablets, cell phones, a gun and – yes – furry friends. They are investigating whether organized crime groups could be the invisible hand behind the claw, as they already operate slot machines and a popular lottery known as “Animal Game” throughout the city. Police in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina carried out three more raids on Wednesday as part of the same operation.

This is the second such operation by police, following one in May, in which officers seized 80 machines. Not only were the machines loaded with counterfeit plush toys, but a subsequent analysis of their programming revealed that winning draws were only allowed after a certain number of attempts, police said in their statement Wednesday. Facilitating these sporadic, successful hookups is an electric current that allows the otherwise weakened claw to hold on tight to its prize, the statement said.

These programs are not disclosed to naive users, including children who might spend their pocket money on what is in reality a game of chance. Claw machines can be found in shopping malls, subway stations, supermarkets, arcades and toy stores in Rio.

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Among Rio’s claw fans is Alessandra Libonatti, 41, who has been playing for nearly three decades. She remembers the machines causing a sensation when they first appeared in the city; she had previously only seen them in movies. These days, she tends to play once a week, alone or at the mall with friends who share her « peculiar » hobby.

She enjoys a low-cost adrenaline rush and, by her own admission, is a skilled claw expert who has honed her techniques to maximize her chances of success, from exploring the animal landscape to precise claw placement. She cherishes a manatee with jaguar spots that she caught on a trip to the country’s capital with friends.

“When I walk past a machine, I look to see if there’s a stuffed animal in it that’s worth using,” she told The Associated Press. “Because it’s not always worth it; sometimes it’s clearly a waste of money.”

Claw machines may have been engineering feats in decades past, but most modern machines have built-in programming that allows operators to predetermine their profitability, said Jeremy Hambly, a Milwaukee-area claw-game enthusiast. His YouTube channel ClawStruck shows how many different models work, he told the AP. He said the odds should be prominently displayed on the machines for users to see.

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Most states in the U.S. consider claw machines to be games of chance and specifically exempt them from gambling laws, provided they follow certain state-specific rules. Industry officials say it’s in the arcades’ best interest for customers to win so they’ll keep playing.

But lately, connoisseurs of Rio’s brand have had a hard time finding what they’re looking for, Libonatti says. And she attributes that to changes to the machines that haven’t escaped her discerning eye.

“The current machines are crap. The claws are weaker,” she wrote in a text message to a friend in April, which was seen by AP.

« Amiga, yess …

Local online media outlet G1 called the phenomenon a « weak-claw scam. »

The nearly 13,000 stuffed animals seized by police in May were originally intended to be destroyed, but a request by state lawmakers was granted by a judge who spared them. Instead, police donated the stuffed animals to families who lost their homes in massive flooding in southern Rio Grande do Sul state, particularly children in shelters.

The fate of the stuffed animals seized on Wednesday remained uncertain.

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Associated Press writer Bruce Shipkowski contributed to this report from Trenton, New Jersey.

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