Laguna bettor wins P18-M lotto pot

MANILA, Philippines –  A lucky player from Biñan, Laguna won Thursday night’s 6/45 mega jackpot, even as the excitement continued to grow over last night’s 6/55 Grand Lotto where the jackpot had already breached the P650-million mark.

PCSO spokesman Manny Garcia said the unidentified lotto winner bought the winning ticket at the lotto outlet owned by Jolly Cardeno in Biñan, Laguna.

Aside from the lone jackpot winner, 232 bettors got five digits of the winning combination while 9,926 hit the four-digit combination.  

The winning combination 21-12-42-01-11-07 with the jackpot prize of P18,538.048.80 was drawn in full public view at the lobby of the new PCSO office.

The lucky winner will be the 1,552th member of the so-called Lotto millionaires’ club who won jackpot prizes ranging from P3 million to P365 million.

Margie Juico, PCSO chair, said that as of Nov. 24, the PCSO had given out more than P26 billion in jackpot prizes on the 6/42,6/45, 6/45 and 6/49 lotto draws.

The first sole winner of the Grand Lotto (6/55), who won more than P134 million in the May 12, 2010 draw, came from Batangas.

Bishop Cruz: Scrap Grand Lotto

Meanwhile, former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (KBLJ) founder, yesterday said the government should scrap the 6/55 Grand Lotto and just keep the “lesser evil” 6/42 numbers game so more bettors would have a better chance of winning.

Cruz said that between the 6/55 and the 6/42 Lotto, the latter numbers game is more tolerable because not only is betting cheaper but also because there is a smaller range of numbers to choose from, thus increasing the probability of winning.

In 6/42, the bettor has to choose six numbers between 1 to 42 and pay only P10 per bet. In the 6/55, the bettor has to select six numbers between 1 to 55, and shell out P20 for every bet.

“It is harder to win because there are 55 numbers to choose from,” he said.

People continued to swell outside lottery outlets nationwide, with every bettor hoping that they would get lucky and bring home the prize money.

Cruz said the Aquino administration should “get rid of it (Lotto) because it is still gambling but it would be a lesser evil if you would make the combinations smaller in numbers, there would be more people who can win.”

He also suggested that the government consider reducing the number of digits for every bet - instead of six digits, they could only require four numbers, so the possibility of winning is bigger. - With Evelyn Macairan