Philippines: 29 arrested for illegal gambling
Police in Bulacan have arrested 29 people in a series of raids.
The Philippines.- A total of 29 people were arrested on Sunday in a series of raids carried out by police in Bulacan. Police say the raids targeted illegal gambling in Meycauayan, the city of San José del Monte and Norzagaray.
In most of the cases, those arrested were allegedly gambling on heads and tails coin tosses, betting games and illegal cockfighting. Police seized fighting cocks, gaffs, boxes and betting money. Eight people were arrested for other matters.
In April, a similar operation in Central Luzon ended with 58 arrests. According to The Inquirer, police seized money, gambling paraphernalia, five dead fighting roosters, 18 live fighting roosters, 17 rooster gaffs, and a motorcycle.
During the first fifteen days of May, 123 operations against illegal gambling were carried out. They ended with 370 people arrested and 107,455 gaming materials confiscated. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported that police also detected and shut down seven illegal e-sabong websites.
Duterte gave in to pressure to ban e-sabong after 31 people linked to the industry disappeared. In a DILG survey of 8,463 people, 62 per cent believed that online cockfighting should end while 34 per cent thought operations should continue with stricter regulation. Only 4 per cent of those polled were in favour of e-sabong.
Reasons cited by respondents for opposing e-sabong include gambling addiction, player bankruptcy, neglect of work and school, and crime.
