Tulfo probes into lotto bettor’s case who ‘invested’ P90-M, ‘won’ P600-M

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Raffy Tulfo flagged on Monday potential irregularities surrounding a lotto bettor who reportedly invested P90 million and who is said to have won more than P600 million on 6/49 lotto draw via system play. 

At the Senate’s hearing held Monday, Tulfo said there’s a possibility that the bettor also owns the three lotto outlets in Binondo, where the P90-million bet was cast.

“So again one person may ari siya — maybe siya ang may ari, maybe hindi — parang nag invest siya ng P90 million — tig-P30 million each outlet na siya ang may-ari: Outlet A, Outlet B, Outlet C. This is in Binondo area. He or she owns these three outlets. Nagtaya siya, system 12,” Tulfo said.

(So again, one person who owns the outlets — maybe this individual is the owner, maybe not – it seems like this bettor invested P90 million — P30 million in each outlet he or she owns. This is in the Binondo area. He or she owns these three outlets, and this person casts the bet via system 12.)

According to the senator, betting millions is not prohibited by law nor by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) charter.

But he pointed out that a bettor wouldn’t risk money as big as P90 million if there’s no assurance that he would win.

“On the other hand, tinayaan mo halos lahat ng numero. Nag-invest ka para manalo — so noong tumaya ka nang ganoong kalaking amount para ma-cover mo lahat ng numero at manalo ka, baka meron ka ring inside information,” suspected Tulfo.

(On the other hand, if you invested and gambled with such a large amount so that you could cover all the numbers and win, maybe you also have inside information.)

“Ang nakikita ko lang (na) problema, yun bang bago siya mag-invest ng P90 million at saka tinaasan yung prize fund. Yung jackpot, dinagdagan ng P500 million to make it P600 million para ma-accommodate ‘yung kanyang capital at may tubo pa siya,” the senator explained.

(The only problem I see is that before this bettor invested P90 million, only then was the prize fund increased. The jackpot was increased by P500 million to make it P600 million, in order to accommodate the bettor’s capital and still have a profit.)

For his part, PCSO General Manager Mel Robles explained that the jackpot was not “hit instantaneously” by the bettor.

“Yung jackpot namin, hindi naman po tinamaan yun instantaneously. Nag-land pa po yun eh. So, in fact, kaya nag snowball pa nga ‘yung iba. Tapos, nag-run pa po ‘yun. So, siguro ho, kung after [mag] increase eh tumama, baka sakali ho. Pero kung nag-run pa po siya, exposed na po siya sa lahat ng betting. So, hindi naman po instantaneous yun eh,” said Robles.

(Our jackpot was not hit instantaneously. In fact, that’s why the others even snowballed and then ran. If it already ran, it has already been exposed to all the bettors. So, it’s not instantaneous.)

This, however, did not budge Tulfo, who maintained that an individual would “not invest that much money without some kind of assurance that the money will return, one way or another.”

‘Out of the ordinary’

In the same hearing, Anti-Money Laundering Council Officer in Charge for Detection and Prevention Department Arnold Kabanlit said they would thoroughly check the case to see if it is linked to any unlawful activities.

“That is quite out of the ordinary, Sir. But again, we would have to [really check] if there is a link to an unlawful activity for it to qualify as a money laundering offense,” said Kabanlit.