LEGAZPI CITY—The provincial board of Albay wants to stop the recently revived state-sponsored Small Town Lottery here on allegations of losing profits to the proliferation of illegal bookies.
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office complained to provincial board members that the STL franchise holder here, Lucky 5 Inc., has failed miserably in complying with its remittance obligations to the government since it began operating in May.
The provincial board had summoned the Lucky 5 official who said that the firm’s failure to remit the minimum amount to the PCSO was due to the proliferation of bookies.
The board resolution was confirmed by Danny Garcia, executive assistant and spokesman of Gov. Al Bichara. He said all board members signed the resolution presided by Board Member Job Belen, chairman of the committee on games and amusements.
The board members would not accept Lucky 5’s justifications “because they have all the law enforcement, including the local government units, behind the STL operation,” Garcia said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has also instructed police and LGU officials to stop illegal gambling, he added.
For the last nine years, the rampant illegal gambling in Albay had been traced to the permit the provincial board had granted to the controversial firm Meridien Vista Gaming Corp. in 2008 to expand its operation in Albay from its exclusive franchise with the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.
The Catholic Diocese of Legazpi condemned Meridien’s operation and alleged it as a mere front for jueteng. It described Meridien’s online operations as “non-existing.”
Bichara admitted in May that Meridien Vista did not have any record of tax remittances to the Capitol since 2013.
Still, Garcia claimed that with the entry of STL last May, Meridien ceased its operations in the province on June 25.
PCSO deputy general manager Florante Solmerin confirmed the Albay STL operation’s predicament in a radio interview here last week.
Anti-illegal gambling advocates have claimed that despite the revived STL, “jueteng” continues to exist in Albay, with card-bearing STL bet collectors themselves moonlighting for the illegal numbers game.
Old jueteng bet collectors reportedly use cellphone texting to take bets from bettors, who remit their payments to STL bet collectors. The collectors then remit only a portion of the legal bets for the STL.