Philippines lottery system provider Pacific Online Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Melco Resorts’ local partner Belle Corp, says it is still in the dark over President Rodrigo Duterte’s shock decision to shut down all gaming operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The update follows confirmation by the government-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA) that more than 21,000 lotto and Small-Town Lottery (STL) outlets had been closed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) since Duterte issued the order on Friday.
In a Monday filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Pacific Online, which leases the online lottery system used by PCSO for its lotto operations in Visayas and Mindanao and for its Keno game nationwide, said it “still has no information on the suspension of PCSO’s gaming operations beyond those that have been conveyed through the public statements made by the President as well as of the PCSO General Manager.”
The company also detailed its stance that the transactions it had previously entered into with PCSO had been done so in accordance with the law while outlining what it says will be a series of “inestimable” negative impacts of the President’s closures.
Among them are “the ability of PCSO to raise funds for its charity works, on the lives of thousands of our countrymen whose livelihood are connected, directly or indirectly, with PCSO’s gaming operations, as well as on the operations of the corporation and its subsidiaries.”
PNA has revealed that the PNP had succeeded in shutting down more than 21,000 lottery outlets within 48 hours of Duterte’s order being issued, including 13,320 STL, 5,187 lotto, 472 Keno and 2,194 Peryahan ng Bayan numbers game outlets.
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