Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Alexander “Mandirigma” Balutan announced on Tuesday that the agency has resumed its applications for prospective bidders of Small Town Lottery (STL) in the provinces of Masbate and Antique.

Applications for both provinces will be opened until August 23.

STL is a regular game by PCSO authorized by the national government through Section 1 of Republic Act 1169. While AACs are corporations or cooperatives duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), respectively that applied, been duly qualified and expressly authorized by the PCSO to conduct STL in a particular area.

For the first semester of 2018, STL has registered a whopping P12.3 billion revenues, up by 146.85-percent or P7.4-billion increase compared to the same period last year.

STL has also hit a record high employment with 79 Authorized Agent Corporations (AAC) operating the STL nationwide.

As of June 2018, the expanded STL has provided 311,436 jobs, a 40-percent increase compared with the same period last year, which is only 222,896 employees.

This workforce comprises those who could not pass the nitty-gritties of job fairs because of their lack of education, old age, or they are physically disabled.

The lottery game was conceptualized and implemented during the time of former President Corazon Aquino to eradicate the illegal numbers game jueteng being controlled by gambling lords who do not remit taxes to the government.

The PCSO Charter, or RA 1169, particularly on revenue allocation, provides that the revenue of the PCSO shall be allocated to 55 percent for prize fund (payment of prizes), 30 percent for charity fund (various charity programs and service) and 15 percent as operating fund (maintenance and operating expenses).