Just to be clear here: I am not going to talk about a certain brand of cigarettes in this column.
What I am talking about here is how pervasive gambling here in the Philippines has become, in essence, a sale of “hope.”
In a recent Rappler.com article, university professor Joselito delos Reyes tackled the “terrifying symbiotic relationship” between gambling and poverty.
In essence, he says, gambling has become even more alluring in a nation where poverty and corruption is the norm, rather than the exception.
“Mas lumalaki ang mga sugalan dahil mas marami ang gustong tumaya para makamit ang pangarap na jackpot, mas naghihirap dahil mito lang din naman talaga ang paghango sa kahirapan dahil sa sugal na ang dali na ngayong tayaan,” delos Reyes pointed out.
Consider this: in more-developed countries, when you say “gambling,” residents would probably conjure an image of luxury and opulence. Think Macau, Monte Carlo, or Las Vegas, where high-stakes gambling have drawn the rich and powerful over the years.
Kumbaga, “out of reach”: kung wala kang seven-figure bank account, huwag ka nang umasang pumusta pa at baka pati damit o e maisangla pa.
If you think about it, lotteries like the United States’ Powerball only attract headlines when jackpots reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
For instance, the latest United States Powerball jackpot as of August 5 has reached US$786 million (P47.7 billion, almost the equivalent of the Manila Electric Company’s net revenues for 2025. Sarap mangarap, hindi ba?)
Now compare it with the situation here in the Philippines, where gambling has become not just a commodity but also a part of everyday life.
Kung hindi lotto, jueteng at STL na pwede kang manalo ng P5,000 hanggang P10,000, nariyan na ang mga online gaming at gambling apps na talaga namang nakaka-engganyo para sa mga ni hindi sapat ang kinikita sa pang-araw-araw na pamumuhay.
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Here’s some more statistics: ayon sa mismong calculations ng Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), ang tsansa mo na manalo sa Lotto 6/42 draw ay 1 in 5,245,786.
Sa Ultra Lotto 6/58 naman, ang kung saan umabot noon ng halos P1 bilyon ang jackpot prize, ang winning odds ay 1 in 40,475,358.
So bakit marami pa ring tumatangkilik sa sugal dito sa Pilipinas?
The reason is simple: what gamblers in the Philippines are after isn’t just the winnings.
What they are craving is hope – hope that they can get out of a system where only the privileged can even live within the minimum of basic comforts; a system where poverty has become not just inter-generational but a seeming foretold future for most; a system where the rich and powerful will do anything and everything to protect their status quo.
What most Filipinos probably don’t realize is that the “hope” that gambling offers is, at best, a mirage.
It’s a false hope that also enables the privileged to condition the minds of ordinary masses that betting on almost zero is the only way to get out of the mire of poverty.
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