Gardener with green thumb wins P39-M lotto jackpot

He must be blooming now.

A 77-year-old gardener from Pandacan, Manila won P39 million in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) megalotto draw, becoming the first jackpot winner since the draws were eased out of TV by a presidential crackdown.

The winning numbers in last Wednesday’s draw (in any order) were 22, 29, 11, 39, 7 and 33, which the lucky man regularly staked his bets on the past four years because these corresponded to the birthdates of members of his family.

PCSO central lotto head Arnel Casas said the gardener has yet to decide what to do with his millions.

"Hindi pa raw niya alam kung anong negosyo ang itatayo niya (He doesn’t know what to do with the money; he’s still thinking what business to put up)," he said.

The megalotto winner would rather deposit the money in a bank in the meantime, the PCSO official said.

The Oct. 11 draw took place four days after President Estrada announced that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and all state-sponsored gambling would be privatized, and a week after the suspension of Bingo 2-Ball operations following the jueteng payoff scandal.

But Casas clarified that the drawing of PCSO mega lotto, lotto four-digit and sweepstakes would continue, though it would not be aired nationwide on television because of the crackdown.

Lito Mariazeta of the PCSO said all the results of the agency’s games would be released through the national daily newspapers.

"And so all the games of the PCSO, namely 6-42 lotto; 6-45 mega lotto; 6-49 super lotto; four-digit and six-digit games would continue," Mariazeta told The STAR in a telephone interview.

PCSO officials claimed they don’t consider the PCSO games gambling, but refused to elaborate.

Lotto hopefuls and fanatics expressed disappointment over the stoppage of the TV spots because they could no longer monitor the actual draws.

"Baka mamaya nadadaya kami dahil hindi namin nakikita ang proseso (We might get cheated because we don’t see the actual proceedings)," a lotto bettor said.