Grossing P3 billion a day, e-sabong lords boldly killed

At its peak in Nov. 2021-Apr. 2022 e-sabong grossed P3 billion a day.

- JARIUS BONDOC

It was second only to shabu among lucrative vices. The difference was that e-sabong was legal while shabu wasn't.

But e-sabong, like shabu, corrupted high officials of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

Protected by government, e-sabong henchmen boldly abducted and executed 34 suspected cheaters in Apr. 2021 to Jan. 2022. A whistleblower now says the number of murdered cockfighters is more than a hundred.

None has been jailed. Only now are the Department of Justice and NBI investigating. Suspects include a former judge, an ex-congressman, two vice lords and 24 police officers.

E-sabong sprouted in 2011 as online "tupada" (colorum) of bored overseas Filipinos. It boomed during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.

Two big outfits and three small ones cashed in on the craze.

At first, they held cockfights only five hours a day. As business boomed, they extended it to eight, then 12, finally to 24 hours, seven days a week.

Pagcor belatedly taxed e-sabong on suggestion of strictly-regulated, highly-levied casinos.

A "sultada" (cockfight) took only two to five minutes. But online bets reached tens of millions.

Around 500 "sultada" were held per day per operator. Grossing P3 billion a day was easy.

Ninety percent of the P3 billion daily gross was paid out to winning bettors. Ten percent net income of P300 million a day went to operators.

That loot influenced lawmakers and silenced church hierarchs. Noticeably, less than a dozen of 130 Catholic bishops raised a howl.