Jueteng

Under Spanish rule, a lottery was run in Manila, although it is unclear whether it was approved via Madrid or developed locally. It is unclear when exactly the practice of jueteng began in the Philippines, but it was mentioned in the Penal Code of 1887, which means it came to the Philippines around the 1800s. The use of Spanish-derived terms in the game suggest it developed under Spanish rule. By 1893, jueteng tickets were openly sold on inter-island ships. José Rizal is perhaps the most well-known early fan of jueteng: he won ₱6,200 while in exile in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, which he used in part to buy a farm which is now a historical site.

The etymology of the word ultimately derives from Hokkien Chinese, specifically the Quanzhou Hokkien dialect of which modern Philippine Hokkien is descended from. The game is sometimes referred to as "Chinese jueteng", when it was introduced during the Spanish colonial times. In the 20th century games were often run by Chinese immigrants, although by the end of the century locals had taken over. It is thought that the term could originate from two Chinese characters, although opinions differ on which they were. When Chinese Filipino publications such as the World News refer to the game, they use the term, "花档" (simplified Chinese: 花档; traditional Chinese: 花檔), which means "flower shop" in standard Chinese (Mandarin). Although in 1977, a paper by Gloria Chan-Yap was made pointing to Hokkien Chinese as the source of the word, where the author pointed to the terms, "(hue 花 'flower', tn 檔 'space')", though by 1980, the same author would release another paper revising her findings with a different chinese character, now recording "(huê 花 'flower', tŋ̣̆ 擋 'space')". According to (Wang, 1982), "擋" used to be written as "當", and another author, E. Arsenio Manuel, from 1948 did also propose the etymology of the word from Hokkien Chinese as "[hoe(flower)-tng(pawn, bet)", where the likely chinese characters being referred to would be Hokkien Chinese: 花當; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoe-tǹg; lit. 'to spend and pawn'. Indeed as per Carstairs Douglas (1873), it can be found that in the Chinchew or Quanzhou dialect of Hokkien Chinese: 買花當; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bóe hoe-tǹg means "to gamble in or buy into a game of jueteng". Furthermore, it is revealed that in other dialects of Hokkien Chinese, such as the Amoy or Xiamen dialect, it is known more as Hokkien Chinese: 花會; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoe-hē; lit. 'to meet and spend' and in the Changchew or Zhangzhou dialect of Hokkien Chinese: 花會; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoa-hōe; lit. 'to meet and spend', from which hence the term "wahoy" or "wahuy", another variant of jueteng, comes from.

Douglas (1873) explains that there are 2 kinds of the gambling game, one played using an octangular teetotum with 5 to 8 characters (either chinese character or drawings of old historical or legendary figures in Chinese history), while another has 37 characters (either chinese character or drawings of old historical or legendary figures in Chinese history) on cards and is played by shaking dice without a teetotum. The latter game is where jueteng in the Philippines comes from as 37 is the traditional number of lottery balls or raffle tickets used to draw out a winning number, but now played with balls or raffle tickets in a tambiolo container that is spun or a bottle-shaped receptacle or small-necked phial receptacle that is shaken, instead of using dice and cards. The practice of using a tambiolo was introduced from Spanish, which calls it as "tómbola", but the Spanish word and the practice itself in Spain traces back to Southern Italy, which in Italian is called "tombola". The carnival game of tómbola in Spain also refers to the revolving container drum and the place where it is played. Tambiolo, as a word, is basically "tómbola" + the Italian "-olo" diminutuve suffix.

Owing to its history in mainland China, specifically Coastal China, it was more popularly and historically known in Chinese: 花會; lit. 'flower meeting', '(figurative) to meet and spend', read in Amoy Hokkien Chinese: 花會; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoe-hē; lit. 'to meet and spend' and in Mandarin Chinese: 花會; pinyin: huāhuì and in Cantonese Chinese: 花會; Jyutping: faa1 wui6-2. The gambling numbers game started out around the time of the early Ming Dynasty period and grew in popularity during the late Qing dynasty period and spread from Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Beijing, and spread further across Inland China and abroad, such as in Taiwan and the Philippines. It was banned last in China in 1949, but the practice continued in secret under the informal economy and the authorities of British Hong Kong would crack down on the practice in 1975 by setting up government-run lotteries to regulate and compete against illegal private lotteries and allocate the proceeds for charity. In early 1985, mainland China authorities in Guangdong province also began to issue lottery tickets across the province, setting a precedent for the first government-run lottery since the founding of the PRC and regulating illegal informal private lottery activities.

When the Philippines became an American colony, the government cracked down on jueteng. In 1907, it was specifically made illegal by the colonial-era Philippine Legislature through Act No. 1757. Since independence, various administrations have continued to try different tactics to end the practice, without success. Jueteng existed even during the martial law era, although not as openly. With the restoration of democracy, jueteng networks quickly expanded and became key sources of political information and support, up to the Presidential level. Finances from these networks served as an alternative source of power to state institutions thought still favorable to the martial law era, substituting for expenses that before martial law would have come through party finances. This link to power allowed local networks to consolidate into provincial and regional networks.

While Jueteng is mostly popular in Luzon, a related numbers game, played predominately in Visayas and Mindanao, is known as masiao. Masiao originally was played based on radio broadcasts announcing the winning players in jai alai. However, as jai alai's popularity has waned, illegal masiao operators now often base their winning numbers on the official ones announced by the PCSO. Other similar games played in Mindanao are "last-two" and "suer-tres". Following a drop on jueteng participation in Pangasinan during 2010, gambling operators shifted to jai alai.

Sanctioned jueteng

Although much has been tried to eradicate this form of unregulated gambling by the government, all such efforts have failed due to the game's widespread popularity. In 1987 under the Presidency of Corazon Aquino, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) first sanctioned and began operating a similar game, called the "Small Town Lottery" (STL). This was meant to compete with illegal operations, and direct revenue from the games to the government. They increased the number that bettors have to choose from 37 to 40. This choice was made to seemingly detach STL's identity from that of jueteng and decrease the odds of winning. STL was suspended in 1990, following which an investigation by the House of Representatives found that STL franchises were given to known jueteng operators. However, the game was revived in 2005, under the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, following which it was asserted that jueteng operations increased. It was suspended by President Duterte for a month in 2019, with Duterte asserting "massive corruption" within the PCSO board. The Philippine National Police reported a rise in jueteng operations during this time. Individuals who relied on the STL for income stated they would be forced to return to jueteng if the STL remained closed.

It has been asserted that illegal jueteng games were also run through branches and staff of the PCSO. The Commission on Audit estimates that corrupt PCSO STL practices cost the government a combined ₱14.9 billion in missing receipts in 2017 and 2018. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has come out against the STL.

STL, along with other PCSO lottery games, was suspended in Luzon during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Politicians and unsanctioned jueteng

One study estimated that a third of all money collected goes to the operators, with another third going to bribes for police and politicians. The Catholic Church in the Philippines has admitted to receiving proceeds from gambling. One of the suggested reasons for legalization was to eliminate repeated corruption scandals emphasizing the apparent inability of the ban to be enforced, and the significant drain on police resources created by the need for enforcement. It has been compared to the tribulations in the United States regarding their prohibition of alcohol.

The Corazon Aquino administration was closely tied to jueteng networks, with her antigambling enforcer later confessing to collecting finances from jueteng operators.

Former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn has admitted to being a former jueteng operator, and used connections and funds developed from the industry to win the mayoral election in 1992. He claimed to have halted operations upon becoming mayor, while hiring former jueteng workers through the city government.