Grand Lotto winner remains a mystery

MANILA, Philippines - Who is the new multimillionaire?

The identity of the lucky bettor in last month’s 6/55 Grand Lotto is still a mystery, as he or she has not yet come forward to claim the P741,176,323.20 jackpot.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) reported that the winner of the 6/55 Grand Lotto online lottery draw last Nov. 29 has not yet claimed the huge jackpot.

Manny Garcia, PCSO publicity and advertising manager, told The STAR that as of yesterday, the winner has not yet surfaced at the PCSO central office at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

Even the lotto outlet owned by Necitas Garcia has no idea who among the thousands of lotto players who bought tickets a day before the draw got the lucky pick number combination that won the biggest jackpot since the PCSO launched the online lottery in 1995.

Garcia said the lotto outlet was located inside the Royal Duty Free at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in Olongapo City.

A PCSO source said the winner could be an employee of SBMA who resides in Pampanga.

“The employee has already stopped reporting to work and may surface at the PCSO anytime,he said.

Another source said the winner could be a foreign tourist who might have left the country.

The lucky outlet, which will get P500,000 for selling the winning ticket, had average sales of P30,000 at the height of the lotto frenzy that hit the country.

Garcia said the winner has one year to claim the jackpot. After that time, the prize would be added to the charity fund of the PCSO.

Lotto frenzy fizzles out

The lotto frenzy that hit the country has fizzled out

after the jackpot reverted to the minimum P30 million.

Garcia said ticket sales of the Grand Lotto have declined from the P249 million daily sales at the height of the lotto craze to only a little over P49 million for last Saturday? draw.

No one got the winning number combination 38-45-36-13-24-28 for a P30 million jackpot.

The second prize winners also declined, with only 13 getting the five digits of the winning six-digit number combination. The second prize is worth P150,000 while 1,443 got the four-digit combination worth P2,000 each.

Garcia said that the sales of the Grand Lotto are expected to rise again once the jackpot breaches P100 million.

“That is the trend of the lotto games, sales go up with the jackpot prize,Garcia said.

A tricycle driver from Tanay, Rizal and a jeepney driver from Taguig City claimed yesterday at the PCSO the more than P2-million jackpot each for the 6/45 Mega Lotto draws last Dec. 1 draw and the Dec. 4 draw.

Garcia said the 32-year-old tricycle driver bought two tickets worth P20, one with the lucky pick numbers chosen by the computer and the other his own set of numbers.

The 59-year-old jeepney driver bought five tickets with lucky pick numbers.