Betting causes students to lose Prouni scholarships in the Campinas region Self-employed Eduardo Luvizetto dos Santos, resident of Campinas (SP), lost a ProUni scholarship after the college identified his mother's financial transactions on betting platforms. The amounts were identified in bank statements, during which R$19,000 in bets were transacted. ? Prouni (University for All Program) is a Brazilian Federal Government program created in 2004. It offers full (100%) and partial (50%) scholarships, depending on family income, at private colleges for undergraduate courses. The selection process uses scores from the National High School Exam (Enem). Eduardo was trying to enroll in the psychology course at Universidade Paulista (Unip) and had to hand over his mother's bank statements to prove the family's income. ? Join the g1 Campinas channel on WhatsApp Eduardo lost his scholarship due to movements in his mother's betting account Reproduction/EPTV The money that comes in and out of betting platforms has been counted by universities as family income, which ends up causing family income to exceed the limit required by the federal program. "They put this here, what came in, as income. But it is clear that these are income from gaming platforms. In other words, it is not the money that came from investment, from salary", said Eduardo. "I ended up losing without ever having access to a gaming platform. I ended up losing without ever having access to a gaming platform", he lamented. In a note, Unip informed that the ProUni criteria determine that income of any nature from the family group be computed, but recognized that the rejection has a real impact on the student's life — read the full statement below. The Ministry of Education said that document checking and analysis of income criteria are the exclusive responsibility of the higher education institution chosen by the student. He also stated that it is the candidate's sole responsibility to inform the data correctly so that they reflect the financial reality of their family. Impacts on the family Eduardo lost his scholarship in psychology due to his mother's gambling Reproduction/EPTV Administrative assistant Letícia Cristina da Silva also had the renewal of her scholarship rejected by PUC-Campinas due to her gambling addiction. "As if the income from the games that entered her bank statement helped the family's income, which is the opposite", he commented. Due to the situation, Letícia had to change colleges and one sister will not be able to immediately apply for the ProUni scholarship. The family relationship is shaken. "Gambling games have greatly disrupted several Brazilian families, including mine. I believe that there should be public policies, laws, that control this type of situation and provide support for people who go through this", he pondered. In a statement, the PUC informed that it compulsorily follows the rules of the Ministry of Education and that the economic profile of Letícia's family proved to be incompatible with the requirements. Psychiatrist Renata Azevedo, from the Hospital de Clínicas (HC) at Unicamp, adds that addiction affects everyone around it. The doctor coordinates an outpatient clinic at the HC that welcomes and cares for people with problems related to electronic gambling. "We have seen that it has a huge impact on families, both from an economic point of view, which sometimes takes a while to realize that money is being diverted for this, and also from the point of view of suffering", highlighted the doctor. Exaggeration Ludopathy: understand what the disease of people addicted to gambling is. Experts in digital law believe that universities are being excessively cautious. Lawyer Carlos Alberto Campos explains that the money deposited by bookmakers should not be considered as support. "These inflows of applications, of income through betting applications, do not make up a family income. Even because what we have observed is a growing, exponential increase in families in debt due to betting on betting platforms", he pondered. What Unip says Unip initially informs that it does not comment on individual cases of students or candidates, nor does it disclose information about individual scholarship granting processes. The restriction arises from the legal duty to protect personal data (Law No. 13,709/2018) and applies even more strictly when it involves health data and information from family members of students or former students of the institution. Without prejudice to the previous observation, below we provide possible clarifications about the Program's rules. ProUni is a federal program and its participation requirements, including income limits, are established by Law No. 11,096/2005 and by MEC Normative Ordinances No. 19/2008 and 1/2015 (as subsequently amended). Participating universities must, at all times, comply with such legal and regulatory rules, including, not only, but also, those that establish that the scholarship must be terminated by the coordinator or representative of ProUni when there is a “substantial change in the scholarship holder's socioeconomic condition”, among other hypotheses. One of the criteria that must be examined for the granting and maintenance of the scholarship is the gross monthly family income per person, calculated based on previous months. Current legal discipline determines that income of any nature received by members of the family group, whether regularly or occasionally, be computed. In 2026, with the minimum wage of R$1,621.00, the family income limits are R$2,431.50 per person for the full scholarship and R$4,863.00 for the partial scholarship. The earnings excluded from the concept of family income, for the purposes of granting scholarships, are exhaustively listed in §3 of art. 11 of MEC Normative Ordinance No. 1/2015, and winnings from bets are not included