JUETENG This is a numbers game that involves the combination of 37 numbers against 37 numbers. In some areas,the operators use 38 numbers. For 37 against 37 numbers, there are, 1,369 combinations; while for 38 against 38 numbers, there are, 1,444 combinations. It is a form of local lottery where the operators accept bets as small as 25 centavos and as high as P100 per combination. This form of illegal gambling caters to the poor and middle class who put in daily bets to keep the business alive. Collections of bets run to about P50 million daily in Luzon. Most of the affected areas are Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Nothern Luzon, Metro-Manila, Bicol Region, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Autonomous Region in that order. There are no widespread operations of jueteng in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Thousands of people in Luzon make jueteng their source of livelihood either as collectors of bets or supervisors (cabo as referred to in the local dialect). These people do not know any kind of calling except as participants in the illegal operations of jueteng.
How It Is Played
The numbers 1 to 37 marked in small wooden sizes just like those in bingo games are placed inside a container usually made of rattan. The draw is being witnessed by all the cabos to show a semblance of honesty in the game. Somebody from the group of persons who are witnessing the game shakes the numbers inside the container and then draws one number which will become the first number of the winning combination. The first number taken out is duly recorded and returned to the container for the drawing of the second number of the winning combination. The container is shaken for the second time and another number is drawn for the second number of the winning combination. Thus, the winning combination could be 1-4,2-6,5-9,34-36,etc. or a total of 1,379 combinations.
The Payoff for the Winning Combination
Some capitalists or bankers pay P700.00 for the winning combinations while others pay only P400.00. The odds here are 1,368 to 1, yet, the capitalists pay only P700.00 per peso bet. The operators have more than 50 percent advantage over the bettors even if the games is played honestly or legally.
Fraudulent Practices of Jueteng Operators
It has been gathered from reliable sources that before the draws are made, the list of bets is examined very carefully and the combination that has no bet or the one with the smallest amount of bets usually wins. This is made possible because those present during the draws are mostly personnel of the operators who will not squeal on the highly fraudulent procedure. It is very improbable or next to improbable or next to impossible therefore that big bets will ever win in this kind of setup because if its big bets win, the bank will be broken.
Jueteng is a fixed game where the operators have no way of losing because of the questionable, fraudulent and dishonest drawing process to come up with the winning combination. The witnesses to the draw are the confidential employees of the operator who connive to produce a fixed winning combination. In certain areas, there is no more draw. The operator, after going over the list of bets, just selects or announces a combination that will yield small returns to the bettors. Jueteng is a numbers game that is a sting against the bettors.
Amount Allocated to the Protection Racket
The amount set aside for the protection racket has been reported to be 30 percent of the daily gross collection of bets. In Luzon where the daily collection is P50 million during pull blast operations, 30 percent of this amount goes to the protection money which is P15 million. In one province of Luzon heavily affected by jueteng, the daily gross collection of bets is estimated to be P5 million. The protection money for the police, local officials and others amounts to 30 percent of P5 million which is 1.5 million daily. It is not surprising therefore to hear that the Provincial Director of the PNP in this province receives about P1 million monthly from jueteng operations. Likewise, some local officials receive the same amount.
How the Protection Money is Made Possible
This big amount of protection money is tolerable among the operators because of the fraud that they commit during the draws where the combinations with no bet at all or with the least of bets usually comes out as a winner. Supervisors or controllers (cabos in the local dialect) are experts in the determination of the classes of bets whether small or big bets. They then mark in the list of bets the small and big ones for the operator to determine which combination should win. The only way for the operators to come up with the 30 percent of the daily gross collection of bets for the protection money is to make the draw fraudulent and dishonest. There is no other way.
Other Aspects of the Sting Operations of the Syndicates
The sting does not end with fraudulent draws committed by the syndicates. In some instances, the operators intentionally make somebody in a crowded section usually the market place of the locality a winner to convince the people there that the draw is really honest. When a big bet wins, the operator immediately delivers the payment to show to everybody that the bank can pay any amount of bet. This is scripted with the big bettor being planned by the operator and as another part of the sting operation. They do this script in other places. Actually the intention here is to increase the collection of bets by showing the public that indeed anybody icluding big bettors could win in the numbers game. Indeed, this is a clever marketing technique to attract more bettors in jueteng and other numbers game skillfully used by the operators in all places where they conduct their illegal business.
Capitalists as Victims of Fraud
Bankers or capitalists not familiar with the way jueteng is played could be duped to put up the capital needed for this game given the assurance that there is no way of losing because the odds are heavily stacked in their favor which is 1,378 to 1. By paying P700.00 per per every peso bet for the winning combination, still the operator has an advantage of 50 percent over the bettors even if the draws are held honestly.
If the bankers or capitalists are not aware of the various cheating methods or rackets in jueteng, then they should never finance this illegal business because their own employees will be the ones who will suck them dry. These cheats or hustlers in the employment of an ignorant and gullible capitalist or banker will allow third parties, usually their trusted aides, to bet for them on a winning combination which they manipulate to come out during the draw. In such manner, the fraud will not appear very obvious. This is one way to make suckers out of greedy bankers who want to earn easy money but do not know that they are being victimized in the process by their own employees.
Betting Public as Suckers
Even the betting public become suckers in this illegal game because the draws are not honest, clean and fair. While the collectors and and their supervisors appear to be the only living witnesses to the conduct of the draw, these people could be the confidential employees of the bankers or financiers who will do anything to rig the draw upon orders of the operator. In this instance, they will just be silent participants to a fraudulent draw where the combination with no bet or with the least amount of bet usually wins. How else can the syndicate raise the 30 percent protection money if not the holding of mock draws where winning combinations are fixed?
Jueteng Syndicates as Real Beneficiaries
The real beneficiaries to this illegal numbers game of jueteng are the bankers or operators who form the gambling syndicates that run the business. For example, if in a certain region the amount of bets collected is P2 million, this is how it is being apportioned:
1. Thirty percent or P600,000.00 go to the protection racket
2. Fifteen percent or P300,000.00 go to the commissions of the collectors and supervisors
3. Thirty percent or 600,000.00 go to the winning combination
4. Twenty-five percent or P500,000.00 go to the operators
High Stakes Involved in Jueteng
The financial stakes are very high for the operators. They will exhaust all means to corner the business especially in places where gross collections of bets is very heavy. They can raise the protection money to a level where it is very difficult to refuse making the operations very safe because the police and local officials have been provided the tempting amount for protection. This is the most ostensible explanation why the illegal numbers game of jueteng continous to proliferate despite the strong pronouncement of the government to stop it. (READ:LIST OF JUETENG OPERATORS)(READ:EVEN THE NBI BECAME A PROTECTOR OF JUETENG)
Legalization in Grave Peril
There is so much money involved here in jueteng. The proposed legalization might not materialize because of the expected underground lobby and financial pressure that the syndicates will exert on our lawmakers. There will be other groups sympathetic to the cause of the operators that will oppose the legalization for obvious reason. Of course, these groups also receive a share of the protection money.