Pangasinan lotto player wins P178 M

MANILA, Philippines - A player from Pangasinan won the P178,849,233.20 jackpot in the 6/55 Grand Lotto draw with the combination 09-21-43-35-54-12 yesterday.

Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes (PCSO) general manager, said the still unidentified winner beat the 28.9 million-to-one odds in picking the six-digit combination.

At least 32 other players also won P100,360 each after they got five digits of the winning combination.

Rojas said the jackpot of the 6/55 Grand lotto drawn every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday soared to P178 million after nobody won the jackpot in the 25 online draws since May 4.

An architect from New York City won the biggest 6/55 grand lotto jackpot of P741,176,323.20 in November 2010.

The 63-year-old bought the winning ticket with the combination 11-16-42-47-31-37 at an outlet in Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

A 60-year-old carpenter from Las Piñas City won the second biggest jackpot of P356,552,917.20 with the winning combination 05-09-19-26-30-45.

The third biggest lotto jackpot was P347 million for the Super Lotto 6/49 game that two bettors from Pasig and Olongapo City shared.

A 61-year-old construction worker from Quezon City won the P249 million jackpot of the 6/49 lotto in the March 30, 2008 draw.

The first sole winner from Batangas of the Grand Lotto draw won more than P134 million on May 12, 2010.

A resident of Olongapo City won over P700 million since the online lottery was launched in 1995.

Rojas said 30 percent of lotto sales are used to fund the medical and health services for indigent patients nationwide, including hospitalization assistance, medical/dental missions and ambulance donations, among charity concerns.

If lotto winners fail to claim their prizes within one year, prizes automatically go to the charity fund.

Following policy, the PCSO withheld the identity of the winners for security reasons.