New lotto game starts next week

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will hold the first draw of its Ultra Lotto 6/58 game, which offers a minimum jackpot of P50 million, next week, an official said yesterday.

“We’d like to make lotto playing more exciting,” acting PCSO chairman Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said as he added that the new game would allow players more chances to be a millionaire and the agency to raise more funds for charity.

He said just like the other lotto games, players select six numbers and bet P20, but unlike the previous games, they can choose from 1 to 58. The other games make players choose from 42, 49 and 55 numbers.

Players who guess five out of six winning numbers can receive as much as P280,000 while those who guess four out of six numbers could win as much as P3,800. Players who guess three of the six winning numbers get P20.

The PCSO will start accepting bets for the Ultra Lotto game on Feb. 7 and the first draw date is on Feb. 8. The draws, which are aired on government-run television station NBN-4, will be on Friday and Sunday.

The last time the PCSO came out with a new game was four years ago, Rojas said, adding that the agency is set to launch more new games.