Gaming won’t compromise PBA’s integrity

PBA commissioner Noli Eala said yesterday the league’s integrity will not be compromised by its Pagcor affiliation in promoting a mobile interactive fun game called "Hula Hoops" that involves playing with numbers.

Eala said the two ways of playing "Hula Hoops" – winning digits and point spread – create more interest in the PBA through a guessing game that has nothing to do with picking a winning or losing team.

"This is an official project of Pagcor and was approved at the highest level of management," said Eala. "When we agreed to support this project, we made sure there were enough safety measures to protect the integrity of the game. We know that Pagcor offers on-line gaming even without the PBA’s sanction through Philweb Internet Sports Betting so it’s better that we have a say on this interactive project."

It was reported that before tying up with the PBA, Pagcor operated a similar type of a numbers interactive e-game where players use cards with P100, P500 and P1,000 denominations to text their entries. A source said the bingo-like game generated about P100 million a month for the government agency.

Eala declined to estimate what is the PBA’s share in "Hula Hoops" but said "while it isn’t a big share, it’s adequate."

The PBA has earmarked its earnings from the Pagcor project for the players’ educational trust fund to benefit dependents, Gawad Kalinga and a pension fund for retired cagers.  

"Our principal goal isn’t to make money out of this project," said Eala. "Our objectives are to increase viewership of the games by adding more fun to watching, to translate the interest in gaming to higher gate attendance and TV ratings and to provide a fund for our social outreach programs."

Eala said the project has no cost to the PBA.

In both the winning digits and point spread programs, it will cost P10 for a player to text an entry. There is the added cost of P1.25 for Smart subscribers and P1 for Sun subscribers per combination that is texted.

A P10 entry will win P55,000 if a player picks the right combination of numbers corresponding to the last digit of the leading team’s score at the end of each quarter. The prize is P5,500 for the digits at the end of the second, third and fourth periods and P500 at the end of the third and fourth quarters. A player may text combinations for three separate prizes in the course of a game with a cut-off at the sixth minute of each period.

The point spread program is more difficult to crack because unlike in the winning digits where the choice of numbers is from 0 to 9,  the range is 0 to infinity with a pot that increases as long as no player wins in a lotto-like system. The starting pot was P26,000 when the PBA inaugurated the e-games last week. A player texts his prediction of the point spread at the end of each quarter. 

Pagcor vice president for development Rene Figueroa worked out the project mechanics with the PBA.

"If Pagcor succeeded in its mobile interactive game without the PBA before, can you imagine how much more successful it will be with the PBA’s support," said Eala. "You can play ‘Hula Hoops’ anywhere in the Philippines. Winners are notified via text and prizes may be claimed at any Casino Filipino establishment in Metro Manila. E-cards are available in a variety of outlets including Megacellular, ADI Telecoms, Pagcor casinos, Mini-stop and Semicon. It’s a game within a game and a sure way for fans to enjoy watching the PBA more."