PCSO urged to increase revenue from lotto games

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has been asked to increase revenue collection from lottery games to enable the PCSO to help more poor families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arsenio Evangelista, president of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said the PCSO should generate additional funding as more Filipinos are seeking assistance from the charity agency.

The PCSO needs to boost its gaming system to raise revenue generation capacity, according to Evangelista.

“The decline in the PCSO’s revenue collection during the COVID-19 pandemic is enough reason to strengthen its gaming technology to avert a possible crisis in the government’s healthcare delivery system,” Evangelista said in a statement.

He noted that Section 37 of the Universal Healthcare Law provides that 40 percent of the PCSO’s net income should go to the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

The PCSO failed to meet its target to revenue collection of P52 billion this year due to the suspension of lotto games when the government imposed lockdowns in March.

As a result, the PCSO reported losses of P13 billion this year.

PCSO general manager Royina Garma said the agency’s revenue growth would be attained  by putting in place structural and operational reforms, including upgrading of online computer facilities.

“Our mandate is to generate money for charity so we will focus on raising more funds next year,” Garma told reporters.

She admitted that the PCSO lost around P7 billion in revenue after lotto operations were suspended for four months due to the pandemic.

“When we resumed lotto games on Aug. 7, kumikita naman pero umaabot lang ng average of 15 percent compared to almost P2 billion sales per month before the pandemic. Ngayon umaabot lang kami ng P350 million monthly,” Garma said