Solons to SC: Block bingo domino

Opposition congressmen vowed yesterday to block bingo domino by bringing the issue to the Supreme Court.

Representatives Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) and Federico Sandoval II (Lakas, Malabon-Navotas) said they will soon file a petition with the tribunal challenging the legality of bingo domino.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has allowed its on-line bingo operator, Best World Gaming and Entertainment Corp., to go into a variation it calls bingo domino.

It is a bingo variation because it is based on bingo. A domino player bets on a two-number combination from 1 to 75, the same numbers played in bingo.

The first and last numbers drawn in bingo comprise the winning combination in domino.

Zubiri and Sandoval said domino is a copycat of jueteng, a highly popular but illegal numbers game.

"In jueteng, a player also bets on a two-number combination, but the numbers played are only from 1 to 37," they said.

They added that by deciding to go into bingo domino through its bingo operator, Pagcor in effect legalized an illegal numbers game.

They also said such a decision meant that Pagcor and Best World are not making as much money as they expected to generate from bingo.

"Otherwise, they would not have thought of a variation that is almost the same as jueteng," they said.

While admitting that it has allowed Best World to go into the variation, Pagcor claims that its bingo operator would still have to submit guidelines which it will have to approve before the game is actually played.

It will earn 20 percent of domino proceeds, including Best World's five percent franchise tax.