The profitability of illegal gambling operations has decreased prompting some gambling lords to use the government’s Small Town Lottery as a front for their illegal activities in some provinces to avoid being pursued by the law, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander Balutan said on Tuesday.
“STL is being used by illegal operators, as front in some provinces as they are now afraid for the viability of their illegal activities,” Balutan said.
Balutan was referring to reports that the provinces of Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya and General Santos City were into “jaiteng” (jai-alai fronting for jueteng), “STL-teng” (STL fronting for jueteng), and “lotting” (lotto fronting for jueteng).
Jueteng is an illegal numbers game that continued to proliferate despite the presence of STL, and there are gambling lords who tapped the STL as front of their illegal business.
Currently, the three provinces have STL Authorized Agent Corporations (AACs). These are Golden Go and Rapid Gaming Corp., (Pangasinan), King’s 810 Gaming Corp. (Nueva Vizcaya) and Trento Gaming Leisure Corp. (General Santos City).
“I expect another one to pop out so I’m urging the law enforcement units from different provinces, particularly those that have STL players to be vigilant and arrest those illegal operators using STL as front,” Balutan said.
Balutan reminded AACs to report to authorities, including the PCSO and the PNP of any unauthorized movement within their areas adding that failure to do so may lead to the revocation of their authority to operate STL and forfeiture of cash bonds.
“The full might of the law will be used against these forces using the STL to hide their illegal activities,” he said.
For his part, Chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz clarified the report of Supt. Maximo Layugan, director of the General Santos City Police Command, who said lotting has become rampant in Soccsksargen.
According to Layugan, the 20-30 STL operators are licensed by the PCSO but engage in lotting without fear of being caught because they operate “guerrilla style using digital technology.”
“Layugan is unclear on the concept. There is only 1 AAC per province or city. His report that these jueteng operators were PCSO authorized STL operators is grossly incorrect and no doubt created a negative impression about PCSO that needs to be corrected,” Corpuz said.
“It was ignorance on their part because what they refer to as lotting are actually STL-AAC betting stations in different barangays of GenSan. It was clarified to me already over the phone by Engineer Mercado of Trento Gaming Corp., our AAC in GenSan, and I advised him to call Layugan to enlighten the latter,” Corpuz added.
Meanwhile, Balutan said some workers that came from illegal gambling operations are opting to shift to STL for work.
“This is happening right now. Like the Meridien Vista Gaming Corporations [MVGC] of Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang, some of its employees are now shifting to STL to work, because they are now aware that STL is the only legal numbers game in the country and they don’t need to hide anymore. The government is ontheir side,” Balutan said.
“We saturated the market by expanding the STL nationwide, so if they are illegal and we are legal, naturally, people will go to what is legal. Because when you bet on an illegal, you will be pursued by the law,” Balutan said.
More than 3,000 Meridien workers operating the illegal numbers “jai-teng” game in Pangasinan became jobless after the Department of Justice and the PCSO issued separate orders for the permanent closure of the company’s outlets in the province.
Balutan said MVGC is now losing because of the expanded STL and Ang has become desperate, so he found it necessary to mount a PR campaign to protect his business.
He said people were previously wary of joining the STL sector because goons from competing illegal numbers games harassed them.
“They were threatened before, but now that our law enforcement agencies are here to fully support the STL, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, they will protect and guard our STL AACs and its employees for them to have smooth operations,” Balutan said.
He said law enforcement units will protect both STL employees and bettors because they are now partners of the government if they chose to play STL.
To date, there are 550,000 STL employees from the expanded STL, an increase of 372,000 from the employees hired when there were just 18 AACs.
“When the AACs reach 91 that number will increase to 900,000. That is the employment potential. We hope this will have a bandwagon effect,” he said.
Balutan said each STL worker, mainly collectors {kubrador} and their immediate supervisors {cabo} on average receive a monthly compensation of P6,000. There are no required educational attainment, no required experience, and no required age limit.
“These are the people vulnerable to criminality, like drugs, which would discourage them from using drugs when they are employed in STL," he added.