1 Lotto Bettor Bought 2 of 433 Winning Tickets by Accident, PCSO Says
Another had been betting on it for 10 years.
(Spot.ph) In a happy accident, one bettor bought two of 433 winning tickets in the October 1 Lotto 6/55 draw, giving him twice the winnings, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said Monday.
One of the winners brought two winning tickets that showed the 9-18-27-36-45-54 combination to redeem the prize, said general manager Mel Robles. This means the bettor would take home P1,090,490 subject to tax, double that of what 431 other winners will take home from the P236,091,188.40.
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"Sabi n'ya, dalawang ticket siya. Sabi ko bakit dalawang ticket? 'Diba strange 'yung series of nine? Sabi n'ya, 'aksidente lang e. Pagtaya ko, sumama 'yung isa pa' so nagkaroon siya ng dalawang ticket," he told CNN Philippines.
"So I'm sure now that 433 are actually 432," said Robles.
The bettor received two separate checks as the the two tickets have its own code, PCSO's corporate planning department representative Roselle dela Umbria told CNN Philippines in a separate interview.
Another winner told PCSO they had been betting on the winning combination for 10 years, Robles said, a proof that "in the realm of chance, everything is possible."
"Ang odds mo rito is one in 28.9 million of winning. After that, the odds of one in 28.9 million, the science stops and chance takes over."
"Even stranger is, may tumataya ng 1-2-3-4-5-6 nag-aalaga, can you imagine? Talagang tinatayaan nila 'yan faithfully kaya nga sabi ko, it pays to be loyal not only to your spouses but also to your numbers."
The PCSO is open to investigation, Robles said, as several senators called for a probe into what Sen. Koko Pimentel called a "suspicious" and "very rare" Lotto result.
It's also an opportunity for the agency to prove its integrity, he said.
"We found out indeed, ang dami palang tumataya nito when we checked. About 200 to 300 ang nag-aalaga ng number na ito so to somebody na hindi tumataya, 'di nag-aalaga, 'di mo maiintindihan ito."