Photo from Filipino Patriotism Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines – Was there really a winner in Monday’s lottery draw? Netizens think otherwise.
The Internet is now rife with talk that a “ghost winner” hit the P249.8-million jackpot for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes’ 6/55 draw last Monday.
The Facebook page Filipino’s Patriotism posted an alleged photo of the draw results showing zero winners for the jackpot.
The photo was published on Wednesday on that page and on other blogs and online forum websites.
As of 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, the Facebook post has received 3,406 shares and 497 likes. It has generated almost 300 comments.
The photo, dated April 8 but supposedly showing the winning numbers for April 7, allegedly revealed that there were zero winners for the jackpot and two for the P169,410 pot money, which was won for getting five out of the six numbers correct.
The Facebook post pointed out that the PCSO announced that 25 individuals won P169,410 each.
Many netizens expressed disbelief or said the “scam” has long been going on. One person commented that he was a lotto teller and he was also dumbfounded at the supposed revelation.
But one Facebook user, who supposedly works for PCSO, explained that they have two service providers, Pacific Online and PGMC.
“The 1st pic is a Pacific Online ticket. It says there na 0 jackpot winner. Tama po yun, kasi po ang jackpot winner ay tumaya sa PGMC. Kung mapapansin po nating mga mananaya ng lotto merong outlet na malaki ang ticket at merong maliit. Magkaiba po kasing makina ang gamit ng 2 service provider na yan,” he said.
(The first picture is a Pacific Online ticket. It says there were 0 jackpot winners. That is correct because the jackpot winner placed his bet at a PGMC outlet. If you notice, some outlets release large tickets and others smaller ones. The two service providers use different machines.)
Another person, however, said even if the terminals were different, there is only one server.
Still, some expressed doubts at the authenticity of the photo.
INQUIRER.net tried to contact PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II but he was in a meeting. As of posting time, he has yet to grant an interview or reply to our e-mail with his statement.
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