Senate asked to probe lotto ‘trustworthiness’ after 433 win jackpot
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has been asked to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation into last Saturday’s win by 433 bettors of the P236 million jackpot of the 6/55 Grand Lotto jackpot.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III filled on Wednesday Senate Resolution 253 asking for an investigation “to determine and maintain the integrity and trustworthiness” of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Pimentel called the occurrence a “contender for the Guinness Book of World Records.”
“There is a need to make sure that the processes involved in the conduct of the lotto games by the PCSI are honest and free from any kind of fraud,” Pimentel said on his resolution.
He noted that state-sanctioned gambling would need to be credible to successfully raise funds for health programs and other kinds of charities.
In reaction, PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles said the agency would welcome any proceeding to validate the transparency of the lottery.
The inquiry would also include previous winnings with several bettors sharing the jackpot prize, which sometimes reached P1 billion.
Last Saturday, 433 bettors got the winning combination of the 6/55 Grand Lotto — 09-45-36-27-18-54. The jackpot of ₱236,091,188 would be divided by among the 433 winning tickets. One of the bettors was holding two winning tickets.
Pimentel noted other instances of multiple winners hitting the jackpot.
Last January, there were four winners of the ₱42.9 million jackpot of the 6/42 Lotto. Then in June, there were two winners of the ₱73.8 million jackpot of the 6/49 Super Lotto.Sena
In 2018, there were two winners of the 6/58 Ultra Lotto jackpot of ₱332 million, and two winners of the “record-breaking” jackpot of ₱1.18 billion of 6/58 Ultra Lotto in the months of February and October, respectively.
In March 2017, there were three winners of the ₱286 million jackpot of the 6/58 Ultra Lotto. In September of the same year, there were two winners of the ₱257 million jackpot of the 6/58 Ultra Lotto.
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