By Romy Teruel, Columnist of the Bohol Sunday Post
For weeks the air lanes were filled with discussion on small time lotto or STL. This stemmed from a move by Rep. Adam Relson Jala of the 3rd District of Bohol to introduce STL in Bohol, accordingly to stop the illegal numbers game locally known as swertres and boost local government income.
If I don’t know those who espousing it over the radio programs other than Representative Jala, I would say there is so much advocacy money being poured to this STL to make it acceptable to the public. The aggressiveness of the proponents and some radio blocktimers to push STL so that it can be operated in Bohol triggers a lot of questions in the mind of the listeners.
From the last report on the radio, only about three mayors have not been consulted on the matter and, accordingly, of those who have been consulted majority have said yes to the operation of STL in their municipalities.
The question of legality is no longer an issue here since PCSO has been granted the franchise to operate it. So what remains is will it boost the income of the LGUs? Definitely. And will it stop the illegal number game? I would say no it will not.
There is more to just the legality, or the economic return that STL operation will be considered when deliberating on whether it will be good to have it in Bohol.
When the legal swertres of the PCSO-operated Lotto was being marketed in the local government , the same reasons and justifications were cited by the proponents. Did it stop the illegal numbers game? No.
The legal swertres results only served as the vehicle for the illegal operators of the numbers game. Now they need not hide somewhere else to draw the winning numbers game. They only need to watch what came out of the PCSO swertres and voyla..they also have their winning number combinations.
If STL will be able to put betting stations in every purok of the barangay, perhaps it will be able to stop the illegal swertres. If not, forget about the claim. It will only encourage new financiers to invest in another illegal number game or make the present financiers of the illegal numbers game to be happy because they have another way of scraping dry the pockets of the barangay folks.
The objection on STL because it will encourage people to be gamblers no longer holds. They are already gamblers. When they bet on both the illegal and the legal gambling like the lotto, they have become gamblers.
As one lotto bettor said, “It is the eternal hope that lotto offers to those who dream of getting rich but don’t know how.”
So will the P1 or P0.50 bet bring instant richness to the bettor? Yes? No? You know the answer to the advocacy of Rep. Adam Relson Jala.