Cultural reference · English
How jogo do bicho works, step by step
This page explains the mechanics of the game as it operates today — the daily draws, the six main bet types, and the payout table. It does not walk you through "how to place a bet" because we do not accept bets from readers outside Brazil.
1. The daily draw schedule
Almost all operators still pull their winning numbers from the Brazilian Federal Lottery, plus a set of long-established regional "bank draws." A typical Rio-based day looks like this (times are Brasília local time, GMT-3):
- PTM (Ponta do Turno da Manhã) — 09:20, from the Rio bank draw.
- PT (Ponta) — 11:20, the classic mid-morning draw.
- PTV (Ponta Vespertina) — 14:20, afternoon.
- PTN (Ponta Noturna) — 16:20, late afternoon.
- Federal — 19:00, Wednesdays and Saturdays, the official government lottery.
- Corujinha ("little owl") — 21:30, the last draw of the day.
Each draw produces five prize numbers: 1st prize, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The 1st prize (called cabeça, the "head") is the most-referenced result. Depending on the bet type, some or all of the five prizes count.
2. The six main bet types
| Bet type | What you pick | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Grupo (animal) | One of the 25 animals | 18× stake |
| Dezena (tens) | The last two digits (00-99) | 60× stake |
| Centena (hundreds) | The last three digits | 600× stake |
| Milhar (thousands) | The exact four-digit number | 4,000× stake |
| Duque de grupo | Two animals to appear in any two of the 5 prizes | ~18× stake |
| Terno de grupo | Three animals to appear in any three of the 5 prizes | ~130× stake |
These payouts are the traditional rates. Individual operators offer variants like milhar seca (only the 1st prize counts, paid 4,000×) versus milhar cabeça (only 1st, 3,000×) versus milhar invertida (any permutation of the same four digits, lower payout). The exact table varies operator to operator.
3. How a bet actually resolves
- The Federal Lottery announces the 1st prize (a five-digit number) at the scheduled time.
- Only the last four digits matter for most bicho bets.
- The last two digits map to one of 25 animals via the fixed group table.
- Bets are checked against the winning digits, in the appropriate prize slot (1st only, or any of 1st-5th, depending on bet type).
- Winners receive the stake × the payout multiplier for that bet type.
The traditional bookmaker workflow
In its classical form, this was a paper-and-cash workflow. The bicheiro (bookmaker) would take handwritten bets in a small notebook during the morning, hand over the day's stake sheet to a collector, wait for the Federal draw, then walk the neighborhood in the evening paying out winners in cash. The results themselves were posted on physical poles (poste) around the neighborhood — which is why to this day "deu no poste" ("it came out on the pole") is Brazilian slang for "the winning numbers."