PCSO asks for illegal gambling crackdown

The office urged the police to intensify its crackdown on illegal gambling as it claims that there is a continuous operation in the country.

Philippines.- The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has urged the police to increase measures to eradicate illegal gambling because there is still high levels of activity of gambling lords in the Philippines.

The General Manager of the PCSO, Alexander Balutan, said that the efforts of the government to battle and defeat illegal gambling would end up in nothing if the Philippine National Police (PNP) doesn’t face the problems before it’s too late. PCSO has recently expanded Small Town Lottery (STL) operations in order to help the battle against illegal numbers game, but ultimately illegal gambling operators used legitimate PCSO games to cover the illicit activities.

“We are aware that STL is being used and abused by some illegal gambling operators to legitimise their business, that is why we are urging the PNP to do their job and go after these gambling lords who are using PCSO products as cover for their illegal operations,” said Balutan in a statement.

This is not the first time that the PCSO general manager asks the PNP to take responsibility and eradicate all forms of illegal gambling: back in July, Balutan said that they agreed to be partners in the battle against all forms of illegal gambling, and asked the police to “translate that Memorandum of Agreement we both signed last November 22, 2016 into a concrete action.”