The Pasig City Treasurer's Office received P4,783,778.96 from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Monday, July 17, as the local government's share in the national agency's lottery earnings.
PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles personally turned over the cheque to Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Vice Mayor Robert "Dodot" Jaworski Jr., and members of the City Council in a brief ceremony at the city hall quadrangle.
According to the PCSO, small town lottery (STL) shares are given to cities, municipalities, or provinces pursuant to the 2020 STL Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
Executive Order No. 357-A states that five percent of the PCSO Charity Fund must be allocated to local government units in cities and municipalities where lottery tickets are sold, while two percent is granted to provinces.
Sotto thanked the PCSO for handing over their share of the agency's revenues.
He emphasized that if citizens want to gamble, it would be preferable to play the charity sweepstakes and lotteries of the PCSO instead of engaging with other online gambling activities or e-games.
Sotto reminded the public that online gambling companies have only until Dec. 31 of this year to operate in accordance with [Ordinance No. 49-2022 or the "Anti-Online Gambling Ordinance"](https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/16/pasigs-city-council-passes-anti-online-gambling-ordinance) passed last December 2022.
The ordinance disallows “the operations, applications, and approval of licenses to operate online games of chance, including, but not limited to, online casinos, E-games, online sabong, E-Bingo outlets, online poker, and computer gaming stations.”
It also includes shutting down operations of service providers providing technical support to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) within the territory of Pasig.
The mayor clarified that the PCSO lottery games are not included in the list of prohibited gambling activities in Pasig City since it is operated by the national government, and a portion of the revenues of the agency are mandated to be distributed as charity to various government institutions.