Jueteng

Jueteng () is a numbers game played in the Philippines. First reported in the late 1800s while the Philippines was under Spanish rule, it was made illegal in 1907 after the United States occupied the Philippines. Despite this, and successive subsequent crackdowns, the game remains popular throughout Luzon, while similar games exist in the rest of the Philippines.

The game is popular among many Filipinos, especially in poorer communities. Due to a low buy-in and the prospect of a relatively lucrative payout, it is appealing and often considered harmless fun. Individuals who collect bets, known as ''kubrador'',In the Tagalog language, words themselves do not change when made plural, but the use of ''mga'' before the word pluralizes it. So, depending on context, ''kubrador'' can be either singular or plural. See also: Tagalog grammar; ; Tagalog language § ''ng'' and ''mga''. are often considered trusted members of local communities. Different jueteng "lords" run their own competing games.

Enforcement of the game's illegality is often lax. Corruption is common, with police and government officials often being accused of running or benefiting from jueteng operations. One president of the Philippines, Joseph Estrada, was impeached, removed from office, and found guilty of plunder, in part due to accepting bribes from jueteng lords. The Philippine government operates the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Small Town Lottery (STL) as a legal alternative to jueteng. However, corruption has led the PCSO to be accused of being a simple front for illegal jueteng operations.

Jueteng is very important to the Filipino informal economy. Jueteng operators and their staff were estimated to number 400,000 in 2009, and many rely on jueteng work for their livelihoods. Congress estimated the annual gross revenue of jueteng operators to be around in 2000. By 2019, this estimate had risen to .

History

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 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, "" ( zh, t= 花 檔, poj=, l=, c=, s= 花 档, p=), 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 'flower', tn 'space')", though by 1980, the same author would release another paper revising her findings with a different chinese character, now recording "(huê 'flower', tŋ̣̆ 'space')". According to (Wang, 1982), "" used to be written as "", and another author, E. Arsenio Manuel, from 1948 did also propose the etymology of the word from Hokkien Chinese as " Hokkien