Two winning lotto tickets, one ticket owner

MANILA, Philippines–A tricycle operator from Pasay City, who has been betting for over a decade, bought two lotto tickets with the same combination he has been picking to win the 6/45 MegaLotto draw last week, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said Monday.

The 41-year-old man claimed his winnings worth p36.4 million on Monday and he met with PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, who recounted to reporters their brief exchange.

“You’re quite a lucky man,” the official told the winner. The latter did not explain why he bought two tickets with the same combination.

The winning combination, 03-06-07-13-21-40, was among the numbers the man picked for his numbers using the System 8 bet. A System 8 bet pertains to a selection of eight numbers where a total of 28 possible combinations could be drawn.

The man said the 10 numbers he picked has been the same combination he betted on when he started playing lotto 10 years ago. He spent p1,680 in betting on Thursday’s winning combination.

He told Rojas that he intended to use a portion of his winnings to recover a property that the bank foreclosed when he could not cough up payments for it. The winner was likewise thrilled with his windfall as he could provide his ailing father the best medical treatment he could afford.

For his wife and four children, he planned to venture into other businesses to boost their income and provide for them in the future.