PCSO Grand Lotto jackpot worth over P236 million won by 433 bettors

Four hundred thirty-three bettors won the PCSO Grand Lotto jackpot of over P236 million.

Saturday night's draw for the 6/55 lottery resulted in the winning combination 09-45-36-27-18-54.

The 433 winners will split P236,091,188.40, estimated to translate to a gross of around P500,000 each, subject to taxes.

The winning numbers are the first six multiples of the number nine.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Melquiades Robles on Sunday said all the 433 winners have been accounted for.

They are said to be spread across the country, from Metro Manila to areas such as Zamboanga, and were said to have bet on the lucky number nine and its multiples.

“That explains bakit maraming nanalo, bakit unprecedented. Apparently, marami pa lang tumataya ng ganong klase,” Robles said in a press briefing on Sunday.

(That explains why there were many winners, why it was unprecedented. Apparently, a lot bet like that.)

Koko seeks probe

On Sunday, Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said he will seek a probe into the lotto results.

“['Y]ung 433 ang mananalo… supposed to be ang chances mo diyan, one in how many billions eh. Ibig sabihin, ganun dapat kahirap tamaan ‘yan. To say na 433 ang tumama, there is something suspicious,” he said.

(That there were 433 winners, the chances of that are supposed to be one in how many billions. That means it should be that hard to hit the jackpot. To say that 433 were able to do so, there is something suspicious about that.)

However, the PCSO said that it saw no irregularity in the occurrence.

“Since this is a game of chance, there is no right, there is no wrong, alam niyo ‘yun. In this case nga, tinamaan nila ‘yun. Nag-pay off ‘yung kanilang loyalty, kaya nga lang marami talaga sila,” Robles said.

(In a game of chance, there is no right or wrong bet, you know that. In this case they hit it, and their loyalty paid off, but there were a number of them.)

Robles said that in the future, the PCSO will urge the winners to come forward and speak to the media to share their experience.

“We would like to assure the public, ang taongbayan, na ang PCSO ay tapat sa kaniyang tungkulin at tapat sa kaniyang mandato na magkaroon ng mga laro na mapagkakatiwalaan with integrity and utmost sincerity and transparency,” he said.

(We would like to assure the public, the countrymen, that the PCSO is sincere in its duty and its mandate to have trustworthy games with integrity and utmost sincerity and transparency.)

The draw for the 6/42 lottery resulted in the winning combination 37-42-14-09-13-04.

There was no winner of the 6/42 jackpot of P24,908,649.60. —With a report from Jon Viktor Cabuenas/NB/LBG/BM, GMA News