Online bettor wins P698.8 million lotto jackpot

MANILA, Philippines — Amid criticism hounding the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office over an edited picture of a lotto winner, another bettor who bought an electronic ticket on the PCSO’s online betting platform won the P698.8-million jackpot of the Grand Lotto 6/55 draw on Wednesday night.

Melquiades Robles, PCSO general manager and vice chairman of the board, said it was the first time that a bettor using the e-lotto platform won the lottery jackpot.

“We have a buena mano jackpot winner just a little over a month since we launched e-lotto last December,” Robles said in a phone interview. “We hope this will entice more Filipinos here and abroad to shift to e-lotto, which is more convenient.”

The PCSO has registered 126,429 e-lotto account holders since Dec. 15.

Robles said the online bettor guessed the winning combination 24-50-52-09-51-03, which carried a total prize of P698,806,269.20 – the second highest jackpot won by a lone winner in the history of the lotto games in the country.

On Tuesday, a bettor in Manila won the P640.6-million jackpot of the Super Lotto 6/49.

Arnel Casas, PCSO assistant general manager for gaming development, said the bulk of lotto sales still comes from traditional lotto outlets.

Casas said e-lotto bets last Wednesday amounted to P5.19 million while sales from lottery outlets reached P142.34 million.

Players can access e-lotto through www.PCSO.gov.ph by scanning the QR code and completing the registration process.

Robles said e-lotto application would be available soon for download on Google Play and iOS platforms.

He said payment method for e-lotto bets is through GCash, but negotiations are underway to introduce additional third-party gateway payments such as banks and e-wallets.

Edited lotto winner’s photo

During a Senate hearing on e-lotto yesterday, Robles apologized over an edited picture of the winner of the P43.9-million lotto jackpot that went viral on social media.

While netizens congratulated the 47-year-old housewife from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, for winning the Dec. 28 lotto prize of P43,882,361.60, they poked fun at the PCSO for its sloppy editing of the winner’s clothes as she received the check at the charity agency’s central office in Mandaluyong.

Robles said the female bettor had her clothes changed in the photo posted on the PCSO’s Facebook page to protect her identity.

The PCSO had received complaints that previous winners were still recognized by their neighbors who were familiar with their favorite clothes, Robles added.

“We have to protect the identity of the winner. I agree that is poor editing, but the objective is to conceal the clothing identifiable to her,” Robles told Sen. Raffy Tulfo, who presided over the hearing.

“If there’s something we apologize for, it’s the poor editing. But it serves the purpose of concealing the winner’s identity. We are sorry, we’re not very good at editing the clothes. But that is a real person,” Robles added.

Tulfo opposed the PCSO’s digital betting system e-lotto, which he said would phase out the traditional lotto agents. –  Marc Jayson Cayabyab