Supreme Court greenlights PCSO’s online lottery

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has given its go-signal for the P10.9-billion online lottery project of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

In a 20-page decision released recently, the Third Division of the high court granted the petition filed by PCSO and set aside the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 143’s writ of preliminary injunction issued in August last year that stopped public bidding for the Nationwide Online Lottery System in Luzon (NOLS).

In the decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC held that the RTC erred in issuing the writ of preliminary injunction in favor of private contractor Philippine Gaming Management Corp. (PGMC).               

The court said the RTC committed grave abuse of discretion in granting PGMC’s application for injunctive relief.

The court explained that PGMC lost its exclusive rights to continue operating the online lottery system after its equipment lease agreement with PCSO ended last Aug. 21.

“After the expiration of the Supplemental and Status Quo Agreement, it can no longer claim any alleged right to exclusively provide online lottery equipment in Luzon,” the ruling read.