The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office on Tuesday assured the government of higher tax revenues with 92 Authorized Agent Corporations under its expanded Small Town Lottery nationwide which is aimed to eradicate all forms of illegal numbers game.
PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan said the PCSO Board recently approved the applications of 36 additional AACs, bringing the number of partners AACs to 92.
“Aside from collecting higher revenues for the government, our STL gaming will likewise kill the illegal numbers game prevailing in the countryside, such as jueteng, virtual 2, masiao, swertres, and its other forms that deprives the government from getting appropriate revenues,” Balutan said.
Out of the 92 AACs — 56 is now fully operational, with 50 of them from the original 56 AACs that were launched last Jan. 31, 2017 while six others were from the 36 newly approved AACs.
“With the operation of the 56 AACs, the PCSO can guarantee the government of higher tax remittances that will be used to help more Filipinos in dire need of medical assistance,” Balutan said.
Recently, Balutan scored claims by gambling operator Mr. Charlie “Atong” Ang that the PCSO is “sugarcoating” the actual sales of STL— saying that there is no reason for the agency to under-declare its revenues, which generated P5.018 billion from January to May this year, up from the P2.066-billion earnings in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Balutan said the 56 operational AACs have contributed almost 25 percent of the total receipts of PCSO. The more than P6.17 billion generated revenue of STL within the half year of 2017 were able to assist 185 thousand beneficiaries under the Individual Medical Assistance Program, with the agency spending P3.6 billion.
A total of 202 ambulance units were also distributed nationwide from January to June amounting to more than P156 million while 31 local government units received medicines amounting to P709,395.30 from PCSO.
“We have done a lot in improving our sales within the past few months. However, we are still asking our partners AACs to continue with the goal of increasing STL revenues to assist the LGUs in the implementation of the various charity programs of the agency which primarily help Filipinos who are in need of medical assistance.
Balutan also renewed his call to the public to support and protect the operation of expanded STL saying that “every peso that they pay for their bet goes to charity.”