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[av_heading heading=’A friendly reminder to Casino Filipino’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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Sunday, January 15, 2017
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THERE is a reason for gamblers to cherish the appointment of Andrea “Didi” Domingo as chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) – her credibility. She had previously done well as Immigration Commissioner and later congresswoman of Pampanga.
I recently read an article where she said she had hesitated to accept President Duterte’s offer. At age 66, she could not have asked for more than a worry-free job retirement but changed her mind because a new job could stave off Alzheimer’s and senility.
Her entry into PAGCOR, however, also meant the pull-out of our good friend, Ramon Gelvezon from his position as manager of Casino Filipino at Amigo Terrace Hotel in Iloilo City. Mon had to be promoted to a higher position at the PAGCOR main office in Manila.
How has the post-Gelvezon Casino Filipino-Iloilo fared? Frankly, I have yet to know Mon’s unidentified successor. But I have met at least two friends who are unhappy because each had an unfortunate experience at the gaming room. One of them, businessman Melvin de Leon, confessed to me how his good luck had turned bad between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2016.
Out of a hundred-peso bill he inserted into a slot machine, his money grew into P2,800 in a matter of minutes. Due to the call of nature, however, he stood up and walked into the comfort room. Knowing that CCTV cameras were all over the place, he thought his winnings would be safe. He also thought that as a frequent player who had often emptied his pocket there, the management would be happy to see him occasionally winning so that he would come back.
Alas, by the time he returned to his seat, the amount on the slot machine’s screen had turned zero. Nasalisihan, he thought to himself – meaning, another player had pushed the button that would drop the redeemable ticket. The thief, he guessed, must have gone to the cashier to encash his ticket. There was at that time a man hurrying to the cashier to encash a ticket.
Melvin lost no time reporting the theft to the slot machine-in-charge, Jude Hugo, who in turn alerted the chief security guard to go after the suspect. The guard made the notion of cordoning the exit door but came back shaking his head.
“I asked them to go over the CCTV footage to verify who had stolen his winning,” De Leon told this writer. “They then made the notion of reviewing the footage somewhere but never asked me to see for myself. Later, Hugo assured me that my case would be taken up in a board meeting, which might decide to refund my stolen winning.”
Almost one month has passed since then, but Melvin de Leon has never again heard from the casino management. But it’s not his small loss that annoys him; it’s the realization that PAGCOR does not care about the players who are its sources of income; not even about its own reputation.
Through this column, Mr. De Leon would like to appeal to chairperson Andrea Domingo to rectify the wrong that Casino Filipino-Iloilo has done to him.
Certainly, Madam Domingo could empathize with casino habitués who know they always play against the odds. Before she joined PAGCOR, she had played at the casinos in Las Vegas. So she knows how thrilling it feels to win against the computerized slot machines which are programmed to “win” for the casino most of the time./PN
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