MANILA, Philippines—Like the countless Filipinos who dream of hitting the multimillion-peso lotto jackpot, Rosiedin Lanao patiently waited for her turn to place her bet at a lotto outlet in Kamuning, Quezon City, Monday.

As soon as she received the lotto ticket from the cashier, she gently rubbed it on her bulging stomach and placed it in a prayer book inside her wallet.

“I know God and my baby will help me win,” the 31-year-old pregnant mother said, beaming while she placed the wallet in her bag.

Lanao, who works at a nearby bookshop, said she was hoping to win Tuesday night’s first draw of the “555+1 PowerLotto”—the newest and biggest lotto game of the state-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)—so she would have enough money when she gives birth to her second child next month.

She said she based her P100 bet on the two sets of numbers that corresponded to the birth dates of her loved ones.

“I know this game is more expensive than the other lotto game. But it’s OK with me as long as the jackpot is bigger than the others,” she said.

Minimum of P50 million

The minimum guaranteed pot for PowerLotto is P50 million.

Patterned after the popular PowerBall lotto in the United States, PowerLotto is aimed at raising more funds for the charity programs of the agency, according to PCSO spokesperson Larry Cedro.

“For the past years, the PCSO recorded a steady growth in revenues because of our new and exciting games,” Cedro said at the new lotto game’s launch Monday in Quezon City.

“With this, we are positive that we can generate around P150 million more for the charity in the first six months alone,” he said.

Lotto outlets have been taking bets for the new game since June 2.

First draw

The first draw for PowerLotto will be at 9 Tuesday night, he said. The draw will be held only once a week on Tuesday.

“Starting this week, we expect longer queues at our more than 3,000 lotto outlets across the country because of this new game,” PCSO chair Sergio Valencia said.

At P50 per play, bettors will generate their number combination from two sets of numbers.

First, players will have to choose five numbers from 1 to 55.

Then, they will pick an extra number, called the “power number,” from 1 to 10.

Bettors who pick the right number combination in any order from the first set and the exact power number from the second will win the jackpot.

Although the minimum bet costs five times that of the 6/42 lotto, the new game offers a bigger jackpot prize, Cedro said.

Valencia said the game, which is popular in many European nations, was made to cater to affluent bettors.

“We observed that bettors from the ABC income bracket only come in whenever the jackpot reaches the P30 million or P40 million level. So this time, we want them to engage in the game as early as possible,” Valencia said.

Cedro said the game was a way for the PCSO to entice the affluent sector to help their less fortunate countrymen in the agency’s charity bandwagon.

“While they get to help the poor, they also have a chance to win hundreds of millions of pesos,” he said.

The PCSO will come out with advertisements in print and broadcast media to explain the new game to the public and encourage more bettors to join, according to Cedro.

P500-million jackpot

Aside from the jackpot, a consolation prize of P700,000 will be given to bettors who get the five number combination from the first set, and P50,000 to those who pick four of the winning number combination and the power number.

A player can win P4,000 if he or she has three of the winning numbers and the power number, and P400 for getting two numbers and the power number.

Those who get one of the five-number winning combination and the power number will receive P100.

With the initial jackpot pegged at P50 million, Cedro said it would be easier for bettors to win P500 million in jackpot.

In case nobody wins the jackpot for nine consecutive draws, he said the top prize could easily hit the P500-million mark.

“It could possibly go beyond P500 million if nobody wins in the succeeding draws,” he said.

Cedro noted that the jackpot for the 6/49 SuperLotto reached more than P249 million—the biggest jackpot in the 13-year history of online lottery in the country—after nobody picked the winning combination in 16 draws.

A lucky laborer from Quezon City eventually won the jackpot on the 17th draw on April 30.

Valencia said the PowerLotto program was conceptualized in May 2005 and was finalized early this year.

He said the PCSO briefed the game and amusement committee of the House of Representatives about the game.

He said the agency also informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the benefits from the new venture.

“The President knows that we want to generate more funds so we can help more of our indigent countrymen,” Valencia told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

“With the rising cost of fuel, we expect the unprecedented increase in prices of medicines and medical equipment. It’s just logical for us to find a way to increase the revenues,” he said.

Cedro said for 2007 alone, the PCSO spent more than P1.7 billion to help 243,751 poor patients.