Most lotto winners bet on birthdays, important events

MANILA, Philippines - Eight out of 10 lotto winners chose numbers that represent birthdays and important family events, according to data from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

These numbers are called “standard picks” and lotto players choose them when they place a bet.

The winner of Monday night’s 6/45 Mega Lotto draw, as well as the previous three jackpot winners, had used standard picks. Only 20 percent of jackpot winners used “lucky picks” or computer-generated combinations, statistics from the PCSO showed.

PCSO acting chairman Jose Ferdinand Rojas said the unidentified player from Manila won P98.6 million with the six-digit combination 45-24-13-16-29-05.

The player is the fourth person who won the jackpot in the past three weeks.

Last Sunday, a player from Quezon City won P90.1 million in the 6/49 Super Lotto draw. A player from Cebu City won the P294.6-million jackpot of the 6/55 Grand Lotto’s Sept. 27 draw. The two players have yet to claim the prizes.

A laborer from Eastern Samar claimed last week the P22.9 million jackpot of the 6/42 Lotto draw.

Man robs lotto outlet

Meanwhile, a man robbed a lotto outlet along NIA Road in Quezon City yesterday morning, taking away P80,000 and hogtying teller Christine Ronquillo, according to Superintendent Limuel Obon, commander of the Quezon City Police District Station 10.

Ronquillo was in the store and busy checking the sales when the robber knocked on the store’s door and barged in when she opened it at around 7:40 a.m.

There were reports that the robber boarded a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.

Store owner Marlon Marcos told police he arrived at the store around 8:20 a.m. and found Ronquillo hogtied. He said he was unaware that the store had been robbed.

– Perseus Echeminada, Reinir Padua