Duterte Stops Philippine Sweepstakes Office’s Lotteries, Games

(Bloomberg) -- President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police and military to stop all lotteries and gaming activities run by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, accusing the agency of corruption.

“The ground is massive corruption involving all, even the courts,” Duterte said in a speech posted on the presidential communication office’s Facebook account on Friday.

Duterte ordered an investigation of the agency and said he won’t honor any court orders to stop it.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, or PCSO, raises funds for health programs and medical assistance through daily sweepstakes and lotteries. In 2017, it raised 53 billion pesos ($1.04 billion) from its games that included small town lotteries, 34% higher than a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, ;Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net, Ken McCallum

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