But the court declined to issue a temporary restraining order on gambling operations based on jai-alai, a handball game that originated in the Basque region.
Instead, the court ordered the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) to refute within 10 days a petition filed by two congressmen who said Pagcor was not authorised by its charter to conduct jai-alai operations.
Pagcor entered into a joint venture with Belle Corp and Filipinas Gaming Entertainment Totalisator (Filgame) to resume the game banned since 1986.
The jai alai operations re-opened on June 22.
Pagcor estimates annual revenues of 1.5 billion pesos from the operations of the game and associated betting.
The congressmen said a favourable ruling on the case would give Pagcor the go signal to claim franchise on all other forms of illegal gambling in the country.
Jai alai has long been popular in the Philippines but was banned in 1986 after a game-fixing scandal.
An attempt to resurrect the game was made in 1994, but the Supreme Court banned it on the grounds that gambling was against the national interest and that it had to be franchised only by the national government.
REUTERS
