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Bill allows mayors to regulate jueteng
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Posted on May 11 2000
The mayor’s office from each of the senatorial districts in the CNMI will have the authority to regulate the numbers game jueteng if a bill proposed by House Floor Leader Oscar M. Babauta becomes a law.
The measure, HB 12-121, has passed the lower house and is now heading to the Senate for action. This is an amendment to an existing statute that empowers the mayors from Rota, Saipan and Tinian to permit operations of such games as bingo, batu , raffles and cockfights in their respective jurisdictions.
Jueteng , introduced within the ethnic groups of Korean, Chinese and Filipinos on the island. has become a popular game even among the indigenous people and could be a source of additional revenues for the municipal governments.
“The game has shown a great potential in generating revenues for the local government in each senatorial district,” said a report by the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Leaving jueteng from government control and supervision will have catastrophic consequences to the players as well as the operator,” it added.
But Rep. Diego T. Benavente opposed the transfer of issuing the jueteng license from the lottery commission as provided under the present law, noting that it is not part of the scope of traditional games permissible for the mayor’s office to regulate in order to generate its own revenues.
At present, the lottery commission has authority to monitor jueteng operators who pay a fee of $150,000 for the right to offer the game to island residents. “This should not be within the functions of the mayor’s office because it is not part of the cultural games,” Mr. Benavente said in voting against the bill at Tuesday’s session.
