BARANGAY officials have asked the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for a share of revenues collected from the small town lottery (STL).

PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said barangay chairmen made the suggestion during the recent “Sama-Samang Talakayan at Linawan-PCSO Editoryal Media” event held at Lipa City, Batangas.

“Itong small town lottery (STL), maraming gustong kumurot dito, especially ngayon. I’ll tell you frankly that this coming election, gustong kumurot lahat. Pero hindi natin mapagbibigyan. 

“Ang purpose natin dito is for charity, not gambling. Kung lahat tayo kukurot d’yan, walang matitira sa charity natin,” Balutan told reporters during the forum.
“Napakarami po ang punong-barangay. Pero pag-aaralan natin ang panukalang ‘yan,” he added.

The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs) of STL provide that cities/municipalities receive monthly three percent (3%) shares from the STL net sales; provincial -- 0.75 percent; district -- 0.25 percent; and Philippine National Police (PNP) -- 2.5%.
All these shares are culled from the 30 percent charity fund.

Balutan said the PCSO has already shared a total of P446.6 million to local government units, districts, and the police from the agency’s first quarter earnings of P15.98 billion.

The amount represents the combined revenue from all PCSO products namely Lotto, Keno, Sweepstakes, and STL where the revenue generated a 28.24-percent increase from the same quarter last year, amounting to P12.45 billion.

“I want to be transparent to the Filipino people. That’s why we publish this (our accomplishments) in newspapers. You can challenge any data na pinu-publish namin kung mali ito. Remember, PCSO is not receiving anything, any single centavo from the taxes of the people. “We get our revenues from the gaming public. Kaya alagaan natin ang gaming public. If the betting public has no confidence (in us), the business is lost.

Wala tayong lahat dito. Wala tayong charity ngayon. Wala ‘yung medical upgrade program natin,” Balutan said.

The P16 billion revenue of PCSO, the highest revenue increase was recorded by the STL with P6.1 billion, was an increase of 114.09 percent compared to the revenue of the same quarter last year.

STL revenue for the first quarter is also equivalent to 38 percent of the entire revenue of the agency.

Other products of PCSO like Keno and Instant Sweepstakes also contributed P1.4 billion (9 percent) and P663 million (4 percent), respectively. While Lotto and other digit games earned P7.7 billion this quarter posted -6.54 percent decrease from the same period last year.

Lotto and other digit games are also jackpot-prize driven where “the higher the jackpot prize, the higher the sales.”

The TRAIN (or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) law imposes 20 percent tax on winnings of more than P10,000 from Lotto, Keno, STL, Sweepstakes, and other PCSO products.

At present, the agency is paying P3.59 billion taxes to the government. If one wins P100 million, P20 million will automatically deducted from it. From P500 million tax, the agency is now paying an average of P1 billion a month tax.