Grand Lotto pot expected to hit P125M

MANILA, Philippines—The jackpot of the 6/55 Grand Lotto of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is expected to reach P125 million in the next draw on Saturday since nobody hit the winning combination on Wednesday.

Those who placed bets failed to correctly pick the winning six-number combination of 55-47-24-20-39-37, said Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, PCSO general manager. Close to 22,000 bets, however, won the low-tier and consolation prizes, he added.

There were 12 that got P150,000 each for picking five out of the six numbers. A total of 837 bets that got four out of six numbers and won P2,000 each; while 20,963 others won P150 for picking three correct numbers.

The jackpot for last Wednesday night’s draw totaled P113,547,520.80.

Rojas said this is the second time this year that the online lottery jackpot breached the P100-million mark.

The PCSO said the jackpot for Saturday’s draw may still increase depending on the ticket sales.

“The bigger the prize, the higher the sales of tickets,” Rojas said, adding that ticket sales begin to rise from an average of P20 million to over P30 million per draw whenever the jackpot breaches the P100 million mark.

He also disclosed that the PCSO has given away a total of P1,803,522,466.50 to 82 winners who have won jackpot prizes from P3 million to P341 million since January this year.

The 6/55 Grand Lotto game generated the biggest jackpot prize of P740 million that was won by a balikbayan in November last year.

Meanwhile, while no one hit the jackpot for the 6/55 Grand Lotto game, a lone bettor became P38 million richer for picking the winning number combination for the Megalotto 6/45 draw last Wednesday.

The PCSO is the principal government agency mandated to generate funds for health programs and charities to help poor Filipinos.