Robredo: Don’t bet but if you do, play ‘Loterya’
SAN FERNANDO CITY—The ideal scenario is for people to simply stop betting in number games, says Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.
But to be pragmatic, Robredo said the best option for now is operating the Loterya ng Bayan authorized by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
“I am a government man. Between an illegal game and the legal one, I go for the one that is legal,” he said as he stressed that the best alternative is for “people not to bet”.
“Sa palagay ko, dapat palakasin ang Loterya ng Bayan… ang tinitignan ko palagi ay patungo sa pakinabang sa bayan,” he added.
At the same time, Robredo admitted that the small town lottery (STL) is being used in some areas as legal cover for jueteng.
He reminded police authorities that the operators who use STL merely as a front should be arrested.
Robredo also defended the inability of the police to act against the jai-alai off-fronton betting stations which proliferated in most towns and cities in the province.
“Ang pulis ay hindi makagalaw sa Pangasinan (noon) dahil ang Meridien ay may permit,” Robredo said in a talk to newsmen after his speech at the Tapatan Roadshow of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Permits were issued to Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation, a company believed to be owned by Charlie “Atong’ Ang, by 41 municipal and city mayors but all these have reportedly been withdrawn after the DILG and the Department of justice launched a Luzon-wide crackdown against jai-alai.
The jai-alai betting stations were later discovered to being used as legal cover for jueteng operations.
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