The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s monthly revenue collection of 640 million pesos from e-sabong is just a “misery” if the government audits the billions of money involved in the gambling business in line, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Friday.
Lawmakers raised the issue after gambling tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang revealed that his e-sabong company alone earns a gross monthly income of 3 billion pesos.
During the Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee’s second hearing on the missing “sabungeros” cases, Drilon asked Ang about the range of daily e-sabong bets.
“I just want to put on record the magnitude of the money we’re talking about here that could lead to incidents like these,” Drilon said.
Ang said his company, Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc., receives around 1-2 billion pesos in bets per day.
Lucky 8, which operates daily, receives around 60 billion pesos in bets per month, he added.
Of the 60 billion pesos, Ang said they received 5% or about 3 billion pesos in commission.
“Five percent of 60 billion pesos equals about 3 billion pesos per month. [‘Yun] ang commission ninyo (Is this your commission)? Drilon asked.
Ang replied in the affirmative, saying their income was “plus or minus 3 billion pesos”.
But the businessman explained that out of the gross monthly income of 3 billion pesos, 2 billion pesos or 2.5 billion pesos are given to their so-called agents.
They also allocate 1% of the commission for the expenses of the e-sabong firm.
“More or less NASA P900 [million]P800 [million] ang matitira,” he said.
(Less expenses, we will get around 900 or 800 million pesos.)
At this point, Drilon said government collections may be less than the total amount of money involved in “e-sabong”.
“With 3 billion pesos like Lucky 8, you pay 640 million pesos with PAGCOR with even income,” Drilon said.
(If Lucky 8 earns about 3 billion pesos, then the income of 640 million pesos claimed by PAGCOR from e-sabong is only a small amount.)
“Uulitin ko lang (again), 3 billion pesos per month, even assuming you incur expenses on this, 640 million pesos per month income by PAGCOR, it’s paltry, it’s very low compared to Lucky 8’s gross income,” he added.
Besides Lucky 8, Belvedere Vista Corp., Visayas Cockers Club Inc., Jade Entertainment And Gaming Technologies, Inc., Newin Cockers Alliance Gaming Corp., Philippine Cockfighting International Inc. and Golden Buzzer, Inc. were also tagged in the Senate. investigate the missing “sabungeros”.
At the start of the Senate hearing, PAGCOR President Andrea Domingo said that the average monthly income from e-sabong from May to December 2021 was around 400 million pesos. She said it has risen to 640 million pesos per month since January this year.
The e-sabong revenue was one of the reasons cited by Domingo for expressing reservations about suspending operations of the online gambling business, as requested by the Senate.
Senate Bill 996, signed by at least 23 senators, was tabled last Monday.
The resolution urges PAGCOR to suspend the license to operate sabong online and halt all related activities until the cases of missing sabungeros are resolved.
Last week, PAGCOR’s acting assistant vice president for the e-sabong department, Diane Erica Jogno, said the agency would consider suspending e-sabong licenses.
The number of missing sabungeros is now 34, panel chairman Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said, citing police.—AOL, GMA News
