Anti e-bingo stays alive
GAMING SITES TO BE REGULATED
Maria Elena Catajan IN THE heels on the gambling uprising, a law seeking to regulate gaming sites has been proposed.
Councilor Maylen Yaranon said Baguio as a character city should be gambling free adding the main root of the problem is poverty, and gambling is an addiction that causes poverty.
Yaranon, in a move to stop the proliferation of gambling sites, has proposed to regulate setting up of gaming establishments.
"The predators: gambling operators and their cohorts are enriching themselves from their prey : our very own Baguio residents," Yaranon noted.
Yaranon has set a
provision for existing sites six months to relocate in areas compliant to the new law or face closure.
The ordinance is co - authored by councilor Elaine Sembrano who has likewise taken the cudgels to oppose gambling in the city.
The ordinance prohibits all traditional bingo, e - bingo including games of chance in all government properties.
If the proposed law is passed, gambling activities regardless of location, gaming site, receiving area, office, outlet or warehouse, including malls, arcades, commercial buildings, three star hotels and resorts will have to follow requirements if gaming sites will be accomodated before any permit is to be issued.
The law dictates a 400 meter perimeter from schools, places of worship, cockpits, horse racing outlets, public markets, informal settlers communities, resettlement areas should be followed.
Gaming sites must not be less than 700 meters apart from each other with the distance to be certified by a geodetic engineer.
No stand alone gaming sites will be allowed and a written consent from the building owner must be submitted.