GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police personnel here have stepped up their campaign against illegal gambling activities in the wake of the continuing suspension of the operations of small-town lottery or STL.
Col. Aden Lagradante, city police director, said Friday he ordered the city’s eight police stations to intensify their monitoring and enforcement in local communities against all forms of illegal gambling, especially the “last two” illegal numbers game.
“Lotto is the only numbers game that is legal. We have to cleanse our communities of all existing illegal gaming schemes,” he said in an interview.
In line with the renewed “war against illegal gambling,” he said at least 15 people had been arrested and formally charged since late last week.
Lagradante said the crackdown covered machines used for the “color game” or “card ball” gambling schemes, as well as those playing cards and “hantak” game of head and tails with bets.
In one instance, he said their operatives found several minors playing “hantak” in Purok Tinago, Barangay Dadiangas South and confiscated gambling bets.
However, he said they were giving special attention to the “last two” numbers game, which is reportedly operated by organized groups.
He said they were investigating a number of “last two” bettors who had been arrested in their operations.
Republic Act 9827 or the Anti-Illegal Numbers Game Law defines “last two” as an illegal numbers game where the winning combination is derived from the last two numbers of the first prize of the winning sweepstakes ticket, which comes out during the weekly draw of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and its variants.
In this city, authorities said “last two” operators derive their winning number combination from the daily lotto draws of the PCSO. (PNA)
