PCSO disowns ‘online jueteng’

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) washed its hands off the alleged “online jueteng” operations of one of its lotto operators.

The national sweepstakes office denied on Wednesday that it allowed its lotto agent World Reliance Trading Corporation (WRTC) to sell lottery tickets through SMS or online.

“WRTC is a lotto agent of PCSO. However, it is not authorized to sell lotto tickets via mobile phone texting or through the Internet, nor process payment of lotto tickets via G-cash or other electronic measures,” the PCSO said in a statement on Wednesday.

The PCSO was reacting to a writeup published on Tuesday in the Inquirer, in which Philippine Gaming Management Corp. (PGMC) legal counsel Jose Bernas complained that WRTC was accepting bets through text messages and indirectly selling lotto tickets like a “bookie operation.”

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