Lotto pot hits P600 M

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) announced that the jackpot of the 6/55 Grand Lotto online lottery draw today is expected to breach P600 million after nobody won last Monday’s draw.

PCSO sources said the estimated jackpot would hit P620 million after nobody got the winning combination 22-25-17-50-19-37 with a jackpot of P584,899,925.20.

The source said the jackpot might even breach P1 billion if nobody will hit the winning combination by the end of November.

The expected jackpot of the Grand Lotto will be the biggest in the history of the PCSO online lottery that has triggered a nationwide frenzy, with more people joining the long lines at lotto outlets nationwide.

The Grand Lotto draw is now very popular in the country after the Philippines launched the online lottery game in 1995.

The other lotto games include the Regular Lotto 6/42, Mega Lotto 6/45, Super Lotto 6/49, and the EZ2 games.

The PCSO launched the Power Lotto in 2008 to target wealthy bettors who pay P50 for each six-digit number combination that is drawn every Saturday. PCSO officials expected the Power Lotto to reach the P500 million jackpot.

The Super Lotto 6/49, however, became more popular and the record jackpot of P372 million was previously the biggest for all lotto draws.

The failure of the Power Lotto to attract rich players prompted the PCSO to introduce the Grand Lotto which is now the most popular online game.

The PCSO has practically attained its objective of putting up a P500-million jackpot since the Grand Lotto was introduced last year.

“But it’s not the rich players that contributed to the dramatic rise of the jackpot prize, it’s the millions of ordinary lotto fans across the country,” a source said.