Gambling Narratives on Video Platforms: A Linguistic-Thematic Study of “Jogo do Tigrinho” on YouTube

  • Gabriel Prenassi UFSJ
  • Ana Machado UFSJ
  • Ester Souza UFSJ
  • Mateus Brito UFSJ
  • Davi Reis UFSJ
  • Jessica Costa UFOP
  • Geovana Oliveira UFOP
  • Carlos Ferreira UFOP
  • Leonardo Rocha UFSJ

Abstract


The dissemination of online gambling, particularly when amplified by digital influencers, presents a growing social concern. In Brazil, the game Fortune Tiger has gained popularity through YouTube videos that often promote quick and effortless earnings. While there is existing research on gambling in social media, our study is among the first to delve into how influencers on video platforms construct and disseminate such narratives. We examine the structure and perception of gambling-related content on YouTube, using a large-scale, linguistically informed thematic analysis. Through transcription, topic modeling, and linguistic feature extraction, we identify two dominant narrative types: critical videos that address legal and social harms, and promotional videos that use simplified and repetitive language to encourage engagement. Promotional content overwhelmingly dominates the platform, while critical content exhibits greater linguistic richness and higher per-video engagement. These findings underscore the structural imbalance in online gambling discourse and offer significant implications for future research, platform moderation, and regulatory frameworks.

Keywords: Jogos de azar online, Fortune Tiger, YouTube, Análise linguística

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Published
2025-11-10
PRENASSI, Gabriel et al. Gambling Narratives on Video Platforms: A Linguistic-Thematic Study of “Jogo do Tigrinho” on YouTube. In: BRAZILIAN SYMPOSIUM ON MULTIMEDIA AND THE WEB (WEBMEDIA), 31. , 2025, Rio de Janeiro/RJ. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2025 . p. 366-375. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/webmedia.2025.15565.

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