PCSO to stop Small Town Lottery operations by June 30

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will officially stop the operations of Small Town Lottery located in 14 provinces by June 30, a television report said Friday.

Created to to combat jueteng, an illegal numbers game, STL will be replaced by Loterya ng Bayan (LTB), a report on “24 Oras” said.
 
Unlike STL's,  LTB operators will have a remittance quota. They will also be subjected to stringent auditing by the PCSO.

The new numbers game will also have its online operations with a minimum bet of P1.
 
Although STL was made to combat jueteng, sometimes it had been used as front to jueteng by “bookies” or illegal betting outlets using STL stations.

“Ang resulta ng [mga bookies] ay ibinabase sa STL [results], pero wala silang binabayarang tax, walang binabayaran sa PCSO. Ang problema sa kanila ‘pag may nanalo minsan hindi rin binabayaran [kundi] tinatakbuhan. Ang akala tuloy ng mga tao, STL ang hindi nagbabayad pero ito yung mga bookies,” PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II was quoted as saying in the television report.
 
He said they would extend LTB operations to the country’s 80 provinces, adding that operators will have liberty to conduct as many raffle draws appropriate in their localities' gaming culture.

“Hopefully, there will be a shift of our players to go from illegal to legal. Kasi sa legal nakatulong ka na dahil 30 percent ng aming [proceeds ay pupunta] sa charity fund, may chance ka pang manalo,” Rojas added. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan /LBG, GMA News