Mom from Quezon City slum hits P50M jackpot

MANILA, Philippines–Her days of living in the slums and washing other people’s clothes are over. Her children, too, may be able to go to schools of their own choices—and her husband can do something else besides work as a carpenter.

All because she had the knack of picking the right numbers.

On Friday, a 48-year-old mother of two who is living in the slums of Quezon City finally said goodbye to her worries, claiming the more than P50-million jackpot prize by winning the March 4 draw of the Grand Lotto 6/55 lottery.

The lucky mother was the sole player who correctly guessed the game’s winning combination of 07-08-10-19-48-55, according to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) acting chair and general manager, Jose Ferdinand Rojas II.

Understandably, the PCSO kept the woman’s name under wraps.

She paid two tickets worth P40 to become the country’s newest millionaire.

Lucky Friday the 13th

Curiously, the mother claimed the jackpot prize of P50,689,948 from the PCSO head office in Mandaluyong City on Friday the 13th—among all days of the week.

For the past 10 years or so, the winner told Rojas, she had been doing the household chores at her sister’s home, such as washing the family’s clothes, to ensure her children’s education.

“We don’t know what else we could do to help ourselves out of poverty,” Rojas quoted the winner as saying. “My husband is only a carpenter and we can’t afford to send our children to school.”

“That’s why I tried my luck in the lottery,” she added.

New house and lot

Apart from sending her kids to school, her sister had also been more than generous, shouldering her family’s basic expenses for food and clothing.

Rojas said the winner intended to use her newfound wealth to buy her family a new house and a lot, and deposit the rest of the money in a bank.

The winner didn’t forget the goodness of her sole sister—she plans to share a portion of her prize with her.

Rojas said the winner, who had been playing the lottery for the last two decades, got her lucky combination from the birth dates and ages of her family members.

Biggest winner

The PCSO is running five games which give players a chance to win at least P6 million every night.

They are the Lotto 6/42 (P6 million), Mega Lotto 6/45 (P9 million), Super Lotto 6/49 (P16 million), Grand Lotto 6/55 (P30 million), and the newest, Ultra Lotto 6/58 (50 million).

In November 2010, a 60-year-old balikbayan from New York became the agency’s biggest winner when he took home the P741-million Grand Lotto jackpot prize.

For this year, the biggest winner has been a 50-year-old retired soldier from Nueva Ecija, who took home the Jan. 11 Super Lotto jackpot prize of P160 million.

Prizes unclaimed

Rojas called on the winners from Manila and Batangas, who won P19.7 million and P13.9 million, respectively, to claim their prizes at the agency’s head office.

The Manila bettor was last month’s Friday the 13th winner of the Mega Lotto 6/45, while the Batangas player won last Saturday’s draw of the Lotto 6/42.

Prizes unclaimed for a year are forfeited and revert to the agency’s charity fund, which helps support individuals in need of medical assistance.

Last year, the PCSO helped more than 50,000 dialysis patients and financed the hospitalization bills of more than 80,000 other patients.

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