EDITORIAL - Who are behind illegal STL?

According to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office they are losing a small fortune every day due to the illegal operation of Small Town Lottery (STL).

Just how much? A whopping P14 million in Cebu City and Mandaue City alone, according to PCSO General Manager Royina Garma.

“Supposed to be malaki ang pera na pumapasok sa gobyerno, kaso nawawala because of the illegal operation dun sa lugar na yan,” Garma was quoted as saying in a new report.

P14 million a day is no joke; that is more than enough to feed a thousand starving families and also be a big help to the medical assistance as well as other programs of the PCSO. And those are just for two highly-urbanized cities, imagine how much the PCSO is losing if they count all the cities with illegal STL operations around the country, especially the more developed ones.

Now the authorities are cracking down on this clandestine gambling industry. But it will be easier said than done.

Even as STL has been declared illegal, its operation seems to have been tolerated in many urban areas. In fact, the sight and circulation of tipsheets being used for STL have become so common in some communities that people actually ignore them. So is the open sharing of information between neighbors as to what numbers came out and when, and what might come out.

Illegal STL seems to be a part of daily life, especially for those who have no fixed means of income and would be more than willing to bet so little to win so much. Some will think nothing of losing P10 for the chance to gain as much as P40,000.

This inevitably brings us to the question, is there someone influential behind the operations of illegal STL? Someone with the right friends or someone with enough pull to make keep it going even after all these years?

Because if illegal STL is so widespread, tolerated, and prevalent, that can only mean it is being backed by someone who can convince some of the authorities to look the other way.

The police are now going after illegal STL, let’s see what their operations will uncover.