6/49 jackpot: Still no winner

MANILA, Philippines – There is still no winner for the 6/49 lotto’s highest jackpot prize ever amounting to over P216 million when it was drawn Thursday night, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said yesterday.

According to PCSO spokesman Dr. Larry Cedro, they expect the prize to increase by up to P15 million more for the next draw on Sunday. Each lotto ticket for 6/49 costs P20.

“As the jackpot prize increases, more and more people become interested to place their bets. So we expect the prize to increase further,” he noted in a telephone interview. The winning combination was 42-43-27-24-21-7.

The bonanza started with the minimum prize of P16 million during its first draw last Jan. 17. Sixteen draws have been held since then.

Prior to this, the biggest jackpot prize given away by PCSO was P202 million in October 2002.

Cedro revealed that last Sunday’s draw had generated a sale of P176 million. “The trust of the public in PCSO is there. This revenue will be translated into more services, more help for people who are asking for our assistance.”

As a policy, 55 percent of PCSO’s sale goes to prize packages while 30 percent goes to charity. The rest is spent for the agency’s operations.

Cedro added that some 129 bettors won P56,000 each – or some P7.2 million – for winning five numbers of the winning combination, while 8,316 bettors bagged P1,000 for getting four winning numbers.

A total of 162,583 bettors won P100 each for getting three of the six winning numbers.

Last night, PCSO was to hold the draw for Megalotto 6/45 with a jackpot prize of P50 million at stake.  – Sheila Crisostomo