Rio de Janeiro police target new elusive stuffed animals

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

On Wednesday, Rio police executed 16 search warrants on the machines, which are causing excitement among children and adults alike. But police said the claw machines are cheating users, who believe winning stuffed animals is a test of skill. In fact, like slot machines, they are games of chance and therefore illegal, the press office said.

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

It was the second such operation by the police, after 80 machines were seized in May. Not only were these machines loaded with fake stuffed animals, but a subsequent analysis of their programming also revealed that winning moves were only possible after a certain number of attempts, police said on Wednesday. Such sporadic, successful attempts are made possible by an electric current being applied to the otherwise weakened claw so that it holds on to its prey, the statement said.

This programming is not disclosed to naive users, including children who spend their pocket money on what is essentially a game of chance. Claw machines can be found in Rio's shopping malls, subway stations, supermarkets, arcades and toy stores.

Among Rio's claw-arm fans is 41-year-old Alessandra Libonatti, who has been playing for nearly three decades. She remembers the machines causing a stir when they first appeared in the city; she had only seen them in movies before. Today, she usually plays once a week, either alone or at the mall with friends who share her “peculiar” hobby.

She likes the adrenaline rush that comes with little effort and says she is a talented claw master who has perfected her techniques to maximize success, from scouting the plush toy landscape to precise claw placement. She treasures a jaguar-spotted sea pig she pulled ashore during a trip with friends to the nation's capital.

“When I walk past a slot machine, I look to see if there's a stuffed animal that makes it worth playing,” 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 a feat in decades past, but most modern machines have built-in programming that allows operators to determine their profitability in advance, says Jeremy Hambly, a Milwaukee-area claw game enthusiast. His Claw Strike YouTube channel shows how many different models work, he said the AP earlierHe said the odds of winning should be clearly displayed on the machines so that users can check them.

In most states in the U.S., claw machines are considered gambling games and are specifically exempt from gambling laws as long as they comply with certain rules that apply to those states. Industry officials say it is in the casinos' interest to keep customers winning so they will keep playing.

But lately, things have been difficult for Rio's claw experts, says Libonatti. And she puts this down to changes in the machines that have not escaped her keen 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, yeeeeeeeess …

Local online media G1 called the phenomenon “weak claw fraud.”

The nearly 13,000 stuffed animals that police seized in May were originally scheduled to be destroyed, but a judge granted a request from state lawmakers and spared them. Instead, police donated the stuffed animals to families who had lost their homes in the severe floods in southern Rio Grande do Sul state, especially children in emergency shelters.

The fate of the stuffed animals confiscated on Wednesday was still unclear.

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