AMIDST the persistent operations of illegal numbers game activities such as jueteng, Small Town Lottery (STL) revenues continue to soar due to Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander Balutan’s unwavering resolve in aggressively implementing Executive Order 13 of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The official results are in, and I am very excited to report that STL hit P26 billion gross sales in 2018 from just P4.7 to 5 billion a year during the previous years. In fact, our overall gross sales is P63 billion, breaching our P60 billion target,” said Balutan.
In a data provided by the Gaming, Product Development and Marketing Sector headed by Assistant General Manager Arnel Casas, PCSO earned a whopping P63,557.912,238.39 in 2018.
Of that amount, P31,902,529,360 came from Lotto and digit games, P26,103,422,348.39 from STL, P4,397,969,030 from Keno, P1,149,124,000 from Instant Sweepstakes Ticket (PMC), and P4,867,500 from Sweepstakes.
“As you can see, ang laki talaga ng kinikita ng STL tapos sasabihin nila na front lang ng jueteng. Palibhasa nawawalan na ng kita itong mga iligalista na ito. Next to Lotto and digit games, STL talaga ang nagpapasok ng kita sa ahensya na itinutulong natin sa mga kapuspalad na nangangailangan ng tulong medikal tapos sinisiraan pa nila,” lamented Balutan.
From its P15,742,331,964.66 gross sales in 2017, STL is up by 65 percent this year.
“More than 50 percent ang inangat ng STL. Kung papayagan nating bumalik sa jueteng, saan tayo kukuha ng P2 billion every month or P26 billion kada taon? Jueteng lords lang ang kikita d’yan!” said Balutan.
Executive Order No. 13 was signed by President Duterte on Feb. 2, 2017 seeks to “intensify” the government’s fight against illegal gambling.
The EO orders the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to work together and intensify their efforts in curbing illegal gambling.
“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our employees and branch managers for a job well done. Doble at tripleng trabahong ipinakita ninyo. Same goes to our Authorized STL agents, employees, kaboes, and kubradores, talagang ka-partner kayo ng PCSO para isawata ang illegal gambling,” said Balutan.
“Of course, I would like to mention the efforts of our law enforcement agencies and NBI agents who are helping us during the raid. Kahit makasuhan kami, we will fight what is legal – ang STL. And this is not only my accomplishment as General Manager, but the accomplishment of whole PCSO. Makakaasa kayo na mas lalo pa naming pagbubutihin ang aming kita at serbisyo. Mabuhay tayong lahat!” he added.
PCSO Charter, or RA 1169, particularly on revenue allocation, provides that the revenue of the PCSO shall be allocated to 55 percent for prize fund (payment of prizes), 30 percent for charity fund (various charity programs and service) and 15 percent as operating fund (maintenance and operating expenses)./PN
