Meaning

(Philippines, gambling) A fish bowl or barrel-shaped container where balls used in a raffle or a lottery are placed. In the case of a raffle, tickets may also be used. Can be made out of wire, glass, clear plastic, etc. Often has a handle, which, when rotated, mixes up the balls or tickets..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Philippines, gambling) A fish bowl or barrel-shaped container where balls used in a raffle or a lottery are placed. In the case of a raffle, tickets may also be used. Can be made out of wire, glass, clear plastic, etc. Often has a handle, which, when rotated, mixes up the balls or tickets.
2. (Philippines, chiefly political) A system by which the government gives out assets, such as land, supposedly at random, but which some feel is actually rigged.

Example Sentences

The lottery during the time of José Rizal used the traditional manually operated tambiolo where numbers were drawn for the winning combinations.

A few days ago, the Manila police raided one such bingo game in the Blumentritt area. The police grabbed pieces of evidence, such as the tambiolo from which the winning numbers are taken, and cards, in the process of which there was a scuffle and the uniform of a policeman and the T-shirt of a Sangguniang Kabataan chair were torn.

The “tambiolo land reform” in the Cojuangco- and Aquino-owned Hacienda Luisita sugar estate is a fraud and the fact that the lawyer of the estate is defending the process is sufficient proof that former Agrarian Reform secretary Virgilio Delos Reyes was conniving with the landowners.

Through a dubious “tambiolo” method, 5,718 Certificates of Land Ownership (CLOA) were distributed to farmers.

Word Forms

• tambiolos
• tambola

Synonyms for tambiolo

Related Words

When Should You Use Tambiolo?

Use tambiolo when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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