Nurse Raquel Maria, widow of Goiás Military Police lieutenant Danilo Lopes Negrão, stated that her husband died after developing an addiction to online gambling and accumulating debts that reached around R$1 million. The report was published on social media on Wednesday (June 24, 2026), the day of the match against Scotland in the World Cup, as a warning to other families.
Danilo died at the age of 41, in 2023. Raquel said that the family only discovered the extent of the debts after the police officer’s death. He had taken out loans from banks, friends and loan sharks. On his computer, she found a spreadsheet with the names of the people he owed money to.
In the video on Instagram, Raquel said that her husband started betting during the 2022 World Cup. She described Danilo as “an incredible, honorable, provider, hardworking, honest man” and said that the change happened after he started playing.
“He started winning, then he lost a lot of money. What he won, he immediately gambled”he declared. According to her, Danilo started to borrow money and told his family what was happening. “Everyone welcomed him. We tried in some way to help him get out of this addiction”these.
Raquel stated that her husband showed signs of anxiety and depression during the period in which he accumulated debts. The family even took him to doctors and psychiatric treatment, but, according to her, the help was not enough. “He went into depression because he owed a lot of money and saw that he was losing his dignity as a man. So, he lost the will to live”he stated.
After the death, the nurse said she was unable to grieve because she started dealing with billing. To the g1stated that people close to him sought out the family to collect amounts left by Danilo and that part of the cases ended up in court. The family house, according to her, still cannot be sold because of lawsuits.
In the video, Raquel said that she decided to expose the story to try to prevent other people from entering the same cycle. “Don’t play. Don’t play consciously, don’t play little, don’t play a lot, don’t play at all. This game won’t take you anywhere”he declared.
The nurse reported having received messages from people in a similar situation after the publication. “There are a lot of people who are thinking about doing something stupid, but I say: look for help, ask for help, there is still time to get out of this situation”these.
In December 2025, the Ministry of Finance launched the Centralized Self-Exclusion Platform, which . The Ministry of Health advises that people with signs of compulsion, or family members, seek specialized help.
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