Illegal gambling hurts STL

ILLEGAL gambling in the country has resulted to a 30-percent decrease of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)'s Small-Town Lotteries (STLs) monthly revenue, an official said.

PCSO Spokesperson Florante Solmerin, during Kapehan sa Dabaw yesterday at The Annex of SM City Davao, said the agency is working closely with Philippine National Police (PNP) in monitoring and apprehending those involved in illegal gambling such as jueteng, masiao, underground cockfight, and Last 2 as these have hindered the agency from hitting its monthly revenue target which is P1.5 billion.

"All the 75 STLs in the country accumulatively

earn P1.1 billion a month. The P450 million could have been used to additional purchases and expenditures for our Individual Medical Assistance Program (Imap)," Solmerin said, adding that 60 percent of the total illegal gambling cases as of last month is from Central Luzon while 25 percent is in Visayas, and 15 percent is from Mindanao.

Based on national monitoring, Solmerin said there are less recorded cases in Mindanao as its PNP officials are cooperative and active in implementing the fight against illegal gambling as mandated by President Rodrigo Duterte.

He, however, said there are still few in Mindanao who are using STLs as fronts of their unauthorized gambling but assured that PCSO is taking immediate response in every report received through coordination with PNP and local government units of cities and municipalities.

Meanwhile, the STLs have provided 10,000 job opportunities in Davao Region.

"Most of the individuals who are given the authorization to operate STLs are former gambling lords," Solmerin said.

The main objective of STLs, he said, is to transform illegal gambling into a permissible activity with corresponding tax imposed. BSC