More than 21,000 lotto, Small Town Lottery, Keno lotto, and Peryahan ng Bayan outlets have been shut down as police implemented President Duterte’s closure order on all gaming operations sanctioned by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for alleged massive corruption.
Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, spokesman of the Philippine National Police, said that most of those closed were STL betting outlets with 13,320, followed by lotto outlets at 5,187.
Outlets for Keno and Peryahan ng Bayan were also closed, with 472 and 2,194, respectively, shut down as of yesterday.
“The closure is still ongoing. We are still consolidating data on how many outlets have been closed so far,” said Banac.
Police Major Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, said that they have closed down all lotto and other betting outlets for PCSO-licensed games in Metro Manila.
“The order of the President for the PNP to help the implementation of his declaration that lotto and other PCSO-licensed games as illegal was 100 percent complied in Metro Manila as of 11 p.m. Saturday,” said Eleazar.
“We immediately implemented the order before the opening of lotto outlets on Saturday to make sure that there will be no more bettors who would shell out money to place bets because these games were already considered illegal as of Friday when President Duterte announced it,” he added.
He said that a total of 1,653 lotto outlets were closed, including those in malls and other business establishments, while 349 STL outlets were shut down.
Nineteen Keno outlets and 55 Peryahan ng Bayan were also closed down across the metropolis, according to Eleazar.
In Region 4-B or the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon area, the order was also complied 100 percent, according to Police Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson of the Calabarzon police.
She said a total of 935 lotto outlets, 1,461 STL outlets, and 135 Keno outlets were closed down based on the compliance report of the five provinces composing the region. (Aaron Recuenco)
