Administration Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III pressed for a Senate inquiry amid brewing suspicions tainting the credibility of the result of the 6/55 Grand Lotto with 433 bettors winning the P236 million jackpot.
Paving the way for an inquiry in aid of remedial legislation, the senator filed Senate Resolution No. 253 to assess the “integrity and trustworthiness” of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
“There is a need to make sure that the processes involved in the conduct of the lotto games by the PCSO are honest and free from any kind of fraud because they are State-sanctioned forms of gambling,” Pimentel said in filing the enabling resolution on October 5.
The Pimentel resolution also cited “the common criticism leveled by the betting public against the lotto is the lack of transparency.”
It added, “Since the identity of the winner is not revealed, the people are suspicious whether the conduct of the lottery is above board.”
Pimentel stressed in the resolution, “The success of lotto games rely on their integrity for the successful raising of funds for health programs, medical assistance and services and charities of national character.”
The resolution likewise cited “the reported lag time between the announcement of the results and the announcement of the number of winners leads people to suspect that this lag time is used to manipulate and insert ‘lucky bettors’ in the list of winners.”
Pimentel reminded that the recent result of the 6/55 Grand Lotto “is a contender for the Guinness Book of World Records” after 433 winners won the P236 million jackpot.
Moreover, the resolution noted that there have been several multiple winners in 2022 alone, such as the four winners of the P42.9 million jackpot of 6/42 in January, three winners of the P43.9 million jackpot of 6/42 in May and two winners of the P73.8 million jackpot of the 6/49 Super Lotto in June.
Pimentel pointed out, “The frequency of hitting the jackpot and the presence of multiple winners despite the low probability of winning heighten the suspicion even more.”
In addition, the Pimentel resolution cited the probability of winning in 6/42 is 1 in 5,245,786 chances and 1 in 40,475,358 chances in the case of the 6/58 Ultra Lotto.