Senate Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel filed Senate Resolution 253 to investigate the controversial PCSO Grand Lotto 6/55 draw result on October 1 wherein 433 bettors won the P236 million jackpot prize.
Pimentel’s three-page resolution directs the appropriate Senate committee to undertake an inquiry in aid of legislation to determine and maintain the integrity and worthiness of the PCSO lotto games.
Pimentel admitted he was baffled over the lotto results which he called “strange and unusual.”
“That result was very surprising- 433 won…supposed to be chances there is 1 in how many millions. So it means, it’s that difficult to hit that, and then to say that 433 won, there is something suspicious,” Pimentel stressed.
He related that many were surprised with the results because statistically speaking, this is a very rare event.
in his resolution, Pimentel underscored the need to ensure that the processes involved in the conduct of PCSO lotto games are honest and free from any kind of fraud.
This is because PCSO lotto games are state-sanctioned forms of gambling and rely on their integrity for the successful raising of funds for their health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities.
For this year alone, Pimentel said there were several multiple lotto winners.
In January, four winners bagged the P42.9 million jackpot of 6/49 Super Lotto. In May, three winners got 6/42 lotto jackpot of P43.9 million. In June, two winners shared the P73.8 million jackpot of the 6/49 of Super Lotto.
The recent result of the 6/55 Grand Lotto, Pimentel emphasized is a contender for the Guiness Book of World records where 433 winners reportedly picked the winning combination.
Pimentel also said that during the initial years of the lotto, the PCSO was already hounded with allegations of anomalies starting with the Philippine Gaming Management Corp.
He also mentioned that in July 2019, then-President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown of lotto operations due to allegations of anomalies and corrupt practices of PCSO officials and employees.
He noted that a common criticism against lotto is the lack of transparency.
Since the identities of the winners are not revealed, people are suspicious if the conduct of the lottery is above board. Also, the reported lag time between the announcement of the results and the number of winners leads people to suspect that this lag time is used to manipulate and “insert lucky bettors into the list of winners.”
“The frequency of hitting the jackpot and the presence of multiple winners despite the low probability of winning (from 1 in 5,245,786 chances in the case of the 6/42 Lotto to 1 in 40:475,358 in the case of 6/58 Ultra Lotto heightened the suspicion even more,” Pimentel said.
Since Monday, winners of the grand lotto have started claiming their prizes at the PCSO office in Mandaluyong City. In a statement, the PCSO said all 433 winners of the jackpot have been accounted for. There were also 331 winners of the second prize worth P100,000 and 2,491 third prize winners worth P1,500 each.
In pictures it posted on Facebook, the PCSO showed about five rows of eight persons waiting at the agency’s head office for their turn to claim their prize of P545,245 each—subject to a final tax of 20 percent—for betting on the winning combination of 09-45-36-27-18-54.
For his part, PCSO general manager Mel Robles has vowed full cooperation with the proposed Senate investigation.
Robles has asserted on the integrity of the results of the controversial grand lotto draw.
“Every time you play, the entire nation wins. Each and every one of you playing any of the PCSO games is a big contributor to the funds it provided to the government, LGUs (local government units), and especially to the various charity programs of the agency. Without your PHP20, PCSO cannot give anything to anyone,” he pointed out.
The games of PCSO, he said, are games of chance and there is no science nor statistics involved in determining the winning numbers unless they will play all the number combinations.
He added there is also no human intervention in choosing the winning numbers as these are selected by the draw machines and the only act by a human is the pressing of the button to switch on the machine.
He stressed that the actual draws are conducted in the presence of a Commission on Audit representative and telecast live via People’s Television Network (PTV). The draws are likewise streamed live over the official Facebook pages of PCSO, PCSO Games Hub, PTV, and PCSO YouTube.
The PCSO assured the public that the 6/55 Grand Lotto draw was above board.
“While statistically, this is a very rare occurrence, theoretically it can also happen because the lottery is a game of chance,” PCSO chairperson Junie Cua said.