Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 27) — Two more gaming operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) resume after a two-month suspension.
PCSO announced the return of Keno and Instant Sweepstakes in a notice posted on its Facebook page on Friday. It said ticket sales and draws resume Saturday.
Keno Lotto Express is a numbers game wherein a player can decide how many numbers to play and how much money to bet. A minimum amount of ₱12 is needed to play to win as much as ₱1 million. Instant Sweepstakes, more popularly known as ScratchIt, involves scratching a ticket to reveal a winning symbol or pattern with corresponding amounts of up to ₱500,000.
On July 26, President Rodrigo Duterte stopped all PCSO-licensed games as he alleged widespread corruption in the agency. Four days after, he lifted the suspension of lotto operations. The Palace said investigators found nothing illegal with the machine-operated lottery games.
On August 22, Duterte also allowed small town lottery (STL) agents to resume operations once they meet certain conditions, despite allegations it is being used as front for the illegal numbers game jueteng.
Malacañang on August 1 said the President will name officials behind the so-called “massive corruption” that supposedly deprived the government of its fair share of PCSO revenues. Duterte has yet to do so.
The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into the corruption allegations including the supposed cornering of STL franchises by retired police and military generals.
READ: Duterte lifts suspension of small-town lottery operations subject to conditions
