The PCSO will use Small Town Lottery to fight out illegal gambling like jueteng that is rampant in many parts of the country today.
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said it does not want to engage in a bloody war against illegal gambling and so it would increase the revenues of the Small Town Lottery (STL).
PCSO Chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz, who has been in the office for almost six months now, said that the country’s main charity agency has decided to use the STL as its main weapon to fight out illegal gambling like jueteng, which is still rampant in many parts of the country today.
He also said that the PCSO does not want to engage in a bloody war against illegal gambling, but rather, in “a more exciting war”.
“We are here to increase the revenue. We want the war to be exciting by launching and expanding STL”, Corpuz said.
He said that their measure means that they want more Filipinos to play and win in the STL, whose operator is paying proper taxes directly to the agency and to the government.
He added that the best manifestation of their action and war against illegal gambling is when illegal becomes legal and also, become their partners.
Quoting the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) of the small town lottery, Corpuz maintained that the agency would not be paying off the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) or the Philippine National Police (PNP) or to any local official, and politician to protect the operation because it is a legal lottery.
Rather, the PCSO will give 30 percent of the net sales of the STL will go to the charity fund, which benefits not only the PCSO beneficiaries but also the police and the local government, under the presumptive monthly retail receipt (PMRR) provision of the STL, as stated under the 2016 revised IRR for the STL.
STL is the only legal number games conducted at the local level. It has also been one of the regular products of the PCSO since it was launched in 2009.