1st lotto winner after suspension gets P9 million

MANILA, Philippines — Three days after the government resumed lotto operations, a bettor from Nueva Ecija has won the P9.04-million jackpot from Friday’s MegaLotto 6/45 draw.

The winner, who placed the bet at a lotto outlet in Gen. Tinio in Nueva Ecija, correctly picked the winning combination of 29-15-19-07-24-13. The draw had a jackpot of P9,043,369.80.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said 51 bettors correctly guessed five of the six numbers, bringing home P10,840 each.

It was the first time that someone won a lotto jackpot since the resumption of operations on Wednesday. President Duterte earlier ordered the suspension of all PCSO gaming operations due to alleged massive corruption.

Malacañang later allowed the resumption of lotto operations, but retained the suspension on other gaming activities, including keno and the small town lottery.

The PCSO added that no bettor correctly guessed the winning UltraLotto 6/58 combination during Friday’s draw that had a jackpot of P82,260,852.20. The prize is expected to increase to P85 million in today’s draw.

Meanwhile, even National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives can place their bets on the upcoming PCSO draw, despite the fact that they are currently probing the lotto agency over an alleged multibillion-peso corruption scandal.

This is according to Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who said that they cannot stop NBI operatives if they want to place bets on any of the allowed lottery games of the PCSO while doing the investigation since there is no legal basis to stop them from doing so.

Guevarra likened the situation to when former NBI director Alfredo Lim won in one of the lottery games of the PCSO in the 1990s while investigating alleged anomalies in the agency.

“There is no basis to restrict anyone from the NBI who wants to place a bet. Anyone can actually place bets because it is legitimate, there is no problem there,” Guevarra said.

He added that the NBI, which is the investigating arm of the DOJ, has already started its investigation which began a few days after Duterte’s suspension order.

Guevarra said the NBI will determine the loopholes in the alleged non-remittance of the PCSO to the national treasury, along with unmasking the persons behind the alleged anomalies.  – With Robertzon Ramirez