A record 433 bettors won the P236-million jackpot prize for Grand Lotto 6/55 on Saturday evening, triggering suspicions of rigging and a call for a Senate investigation.

On Sunday, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office vouched for the integrity of the lottery results.

"PCSO assures every Filipino whether you are playing lotto or not that the conduct and result of every draw are very transparent and of utmost integrity. One thing is certain, if you will not play lotto, you will not have a chance to win and help the government and the country," PCSO general manager Mel Robles said in a statement.

Robles said that each lucky jackpot winner will be taking home P545,245.23 subject to a final tax of 20 percent under the TRAIN Law.

He said the result of the 1 October Grand Lotto draw is an indication that the more you play the lotto, the more that you have the chance of winning.

"Every time you play, the entire nation wins. Every one of you playing any of the PCSO games is a big contributor to the funds provided by the PCSO to the government, LGUs, and especially to the various charity programs of the agency. Without your P20, PCSO cannot give anything to anyone," Robles said.

The bettors guessed the winning combination of 09-45-36-27-18-54.

Robles pointed out that there is also no human intervention in choosing the winning numbers as these are selected by the draw machines and the only human intervention is the pressing of the button to switch on the machine.

He noted the actual draws are conducted with the presence of a Commission on Audit representative and telecast live via PTV4 and streamed live over PCSO Official FB Page, PCSO Games Hub FB Page, PCSO YouTube and PTV4 FB Page.

Dr. Jomar Rabajante, a full-time lecturer of Mathematics at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, UPLB, said the probability of getting the correct winning combination is 1 in 29 million.

"The chance that a number combination can win is 1 in 28,989,675 or approximately 1 in 29 million. You see, it's really difficult to win the lotto, what more if we have two or more winners, it seems very very unlikely," Rabajante said.

"However, remember that lotto betting is not just one time, lotto is regularly being drawn (there's a temporal aspect)… and the chance one combination will be selected such as a combination that are multiples of 9 is possible (same chance as the other 29 million combinations)," he added.

Rabajante floated two possible reasons as to why there were 433 bettors who won the Grand Lotto jackpot prize worth more than P236 million by getting the winning combination of 09-45-36-27-18-54.

"Some people just used to alaga or bet combinations following a pattern. The current winning combination can be considered as one — multiple of 9, and can easily be selected (diagonal) in a lotto ticket," he explained.

"This is rare but not impossible. It is really a matter of luck if your pattern shows up — the sad news is many selected that basic pattern so the price will be divided," he added.
Still, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III described the result as "strange and unusual."

Pimentel said he is planning to file a resolution to audit and investigate PCSO's gaming activities.

"The result is very surprising. About 433 won, supposed to be the chances of winning is one in how many millions. So it means, it should be difficult to get and then to say that 433 won, there is something suspicious," he said in an interview over radio station DZBB on Sunday.

"It should be expected that a lot of people will get suspicious and shocked because statistically speaking, this is a very rare event. Let us take this opportunity to investigate so that the purpose is to ensure the integrity of our lotto games," he added.

@tribunephl_jom