Rio de Janeiro police seize on a new target: Hard-to-grasp stuffed animals

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro, already notorious for its street thugs, corrupt politicians, brutal militias and drug dealers with Kalashnikovs, has a new public enemy: stuffed animals. Or rather, the joystick-controlled claw machines that dispense them.

On Wednesday, Rio police carried out 16 search warrants targeting machines that delight children and adults alike. But police said claw machines trick users into thinking that scoring points on stuffed animals is a test of skill. In reality, they are games of chance — just like slot machines — and therefore illegal, according to their press office.

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Officers seized claw machines, laptops, tablets, cell phones, a firearm and furry friends. They are investigating whether organized crime groups may be the hidden hand behind the claw because they already operate slot machines and a popular lottery known as “animal game” across the city. Police in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina executed three additional search warrants on Wednesday as part of the same operation.

This was the second such raid by police, following another in May, when officers seized 80 machines. Not only were the machines rigged with fakes, but subsequent analysis of their programming showed that winning draws were only allowed after a set number of attempts, police said in a statement on Wednesday. Facilitating such sporadic successful attempts was like an electric current to a weak claw, the statement said, so it would hold on to its prize.

These programs are not disclosed to naive users, including children who may spend their money on what is in fact gambling. Claw machines can be found in Rio’s shopping malls, metro stations, department stores, arcades, and toy stores.

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Among the fans of the game in Rio de Janeiro is Alessandra Liponati, 41, who has been playing the game for nearly three decades. She remembers how the machines caused a stir when they first appeared in the city; she had only seen them in movies before. These days, she tends to play the game once a week, either alone or at a shopping mall with friends who share her “weird” hobby.

She loves the adrenaline rush that doesn’t require much investment, and by her own account, she’s a claw wielder who has honed her techniques for maximum success, from exploring the landscape for stuffed animals to pinpointing the exact location of the claw. She cherishes a manatee with jaguar-like spots that she caught on a trip to the nation’s capital with friends.

“When I pass a machine, I look to see if there is a stuffed animal worth playing with,” she told the Associated Press. “Because it’s not always worth it; sometimes it’s a clear waste of money.”

Jeremy Hambley, a Milwaukee-area claw machine enthusiast, said claw machines may have been a skilled business in past decades, but most modern machines have built-in programming that allows operators to pre-determine their profitability. His YouTube channel ClawStruck shows how several different models work, he previously told The Associated Press. He said the odds should be prominently posted on the machines so users can review them.

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Most U.S. states consider claw machines to be games of chance and specifically exempt them from gambling laws, as long as they comply with certain state rules. According to industry officials, it is in the best interest of gaming parlors to have customers win so they can keep playing.

But lately, Liponati said, it’s gotten tougher for Rio’s claw experts. She attributes it to changes in machinery that haven’t escaped her keen eye.

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

“Yes, my friend,” her friend replied. “I have been back to the machines I have always been getting stuffed animals from in recent weeks, and they are very weak!”

One local online media outlet, G1, called the phenomenon the “weak claw scam.”

The roughly 13,000 stuffed animals seized by police in May were initially intended for destruction, but a request from state lawmakers was granted by a judge who ruled they could not be destroyed. 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 remains unclear.

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Associated Press writer Bruce Shepkowski contributed from Trenton, New Jersey.

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