Cock Fighting is Easy Money

Seriously take a look at all the money you could win all for doing nothing but pitting one chicken against another:

Now let's say you win all ten spots. That would be sweet and you'd be getting 65,000 pesos. Pretty good right?

http://www.sabong.net.ph/forum/showthread.php?75457-Cost-in-raising-Gamefarm-in-PI

This guy estimates that it costs 47,500 pesos per month to raise 250 roosters.  That's 570,000 pesos per year.  Which is $11,400 at todays exchange rate.  This estimate is four years old so the cost has probably risen.  Also the less cocks you raise the less money it will cost.

570,000 per year with a one time win of 65,000 pesos is hardly a profit. In fact it's still a loss.  But if you keep at it who knows?  Your cocks will probably become better fighters and you can enter more profitable tournaments.  

You might even make it to the BIG TIME!

World Slasher Cup is also known as the "Olympics of Cockfighting"

The cup is the high end of global cockfighting. To enter a single bird in the competition costs $1,750, more than half a year’s salary for the average Filipino.Wealthy owners often have more than just the money; they have dedicated farms and full-time trainers caring for hundreds of fowl that could sell for well over $1,000 apiece. Vaccines, antibiotics, vitamins, and supplements are all part of the modern game fowl’s life. Traditional methods of revving up your bird for a fight, like slipping cayenne up its anus, have given way to pricey steroids and other powerful drugs.  

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/12/cockfighting_and_chicken_history_the_world_slasher_cup_in_the_philippines.html

With all that potentially easy money no wonder there is a rooster in every yard and tied to every pole. Who would want to miss out on the chance of being able to tell the story of how you rose up through the ranks and won a whole lot of money at the "Olympics of Cockfighting?" 

There are, of course, other stories. There is the young villager who spent all his hard-earned money saved from an overseas job, and the children who suffer from malnutrition while their father’s roosters live a well-fed life. For the millions packed into Manila’s sprawling slums, cockfighting offers a fast way up the socioeconomic ladder or a quick tumble into indigence. And while the birds are famously pampered outside the ring, most end up dead inside it.

Of course, like the Highlander, there can be only one and that one will probably not be you.  So that is 570,000 pesos (or less depending on how many birds you raise) that could feed your family, buy medicine, procure dental care, buy clothes and slippers, pay for schooling, and pay the bills all flushed right down the toilet. 

Or rather, stuffed down some cock's throat.