High stakes in Manila
When paying your final respects to a relative or friend, the last thing you might expect to see at the wake is people placing bets on a card game or bingo. Not in the Philippines.
Making wagers at games such as sakla, the Philippine version of Spanish tarot cards, is particularly common at wakes, because the family of the deceased gets a share of the winnings to help cover funeral expenses.
Story
Carmelo Lazatin, 80, a former congressman from the northern province of Pampanga, owns about 800 fighting cocks and an arena.
Cockfighting is a national pastime, he says, that survives because the games run just a few hours and people do not lose their heads over the sport.
"Some people commit suicide because of casinos," he said. "There's none of that in cockfighting."
Residents play pool on a carom board.
Men play basketball in a makeshift court while gamblers look on.
A teenager bets on a numbers game.
A card dealer shuffles a deck next to his son during a local version of poker known as pusoy.
A casino financier counts money she collected from a gambler.
A casino trainee demonstrates how to play a slot machine.
Casino trainees practise on a roulette table.
Gamblers play a Spanish card game known locally as sakla in an underground casino.
Residents play Russian poker.
Women play bingo.
Residents play mahjong.
A gambler writes down his horse racing bet.
An audience watches a cockfighting match.
