PCSO losing about half a million a day due to canceled lotto tickets

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Mel Robles. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Thursday said that the agency is losing an estimated half a million a day due to canceled tickets.

During the hearing of the Senate committee on ways and means led by Senator Raffy Tulfo,  Philippine Online Lotto Agents Association President Evelyn Javier said that agents have had difficulty since cancellation was removed.

“We learned na yung cancellation po, yan po yung tumaya, tapos sasabihin, cancelled pala. So nabigyan na ng ticket, tapos ika-cancel. Alam niyo po kung magkano it’s costing us? P500,000 to P600,000 a day, cost of cancellation,” said Melquiades Robles, PCSO general manager.

(We learned na yung cancellation, that is when those who bet will have it canceled suddenly. They will be given a ticket and then it is canceled. Do you know how much it is costing us? P500,000 to P600,000 a day, cost of cancellation.)

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Robles said that the PCSO spotted one branch that had more cancellations than actual transactions.

“In one case, there were 14,000 cancellations, yung sale niya is 9,000,” said Robles, saying that the agency noticed that there was a pattern among outlets.

Asked by Tulfo what the reason for these cancellations could be, Robles said it could be on the level of the teller.

However, Javier said that this is not the case for every agent.

Javier said that employees would commit honest errors, or the card may be dirty, yet the lotto card could not be canceled, leaving agents and tellers to reimburse buyers themselves.