Senatorial aspirant and Taguig City Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano has questioned the revenue scheme being implemented for online cockfighting, saying the government should be earning more than e-sabong operators and not the other way around.
Cayetano made the statement as he noted that based on the Senate hearing on e-sabong on March 4, 2022, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) stands to earn only P7.6 billion a year while e-sabong operators can earn around P36 billion.
Cayetano said under the current setup, the operator only pays the government P12,500 per cockfight and keeps the rest of the earnings.
“This is in stark contrast to the way the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) operates lotto, in which it gives the operator, Berjaya Philippines, Inc., a fixed amount of P5.8 billion for a lease period of five years for its technical know-how and software to operate the lottery,” he said.
The licensees and agents who accept the bets, however, deal not with Berjaya but directly with PCSO, which earns 20 percent from ticket sales. An additional 20 percent tax on ticket sales goes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“If the government says it needs funds, this is the model. Before the pandemic, lotto earned P18 billion a year. In five years, (it should earn) P90 billion, but it pays Berjaya only P5.8 billion,” Cayetano said.
“So may I humbly submit that we prohibit it (e-sabong), but if we really need the funds, we [the government] do the contract,” he said.
Cayetano said the contracts for online gambling are not ordinary contracts that cannot be amended.
At the same time, Cayetano warned PAGCOR officials that they risk being sued for “entering into a contract grossly disadvantageous to the government” if they continue with the current setup.
Cayetano said he believes President Rodrigo Duterte is listening to all sides of the issue and that PAGCOR is also taking everything into consideration.
Admitting that he is “too passionate about certain issues including this,” Cayetano said all he can see in e-sabong is “danger, danger, danger.”