Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Melquiades Robles on Thursday took exceptions to allegation of manipulation in the grand 6/49 grand lotto draw where a lone winner pocketed the more than P640 million jackpot prize.
“Even we, PCSO officials cannot manipulate the system,” Robles stressed.
Senator Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, said he received complaints that the bettor was in cahoots with some PCSO officials to win the grand prize.
Earlier, Tulfo hinted that the lotto results could be rigged by placing bets on 14 million combinations.
He said some bettors were asked to put their bets on all possible combinations.
Bets totalling P280 million would be deducted from the more than P640 million won,
Tulfo said this could be done within 24 hours using at least 10 machines.
Facing Tulfo’s committee for the second time, Robles emphasized it is anybody’s right to put a bet.
He also related that based on their records, nobody betted on some other combinations that time when the jackpot was won last Jan. 17.
“Betting on all combinations is a right of everybody, it does not guarantee… assuming somebody betted on all combinations, if you can, it does not guarantee that you will get the jackpot by yourself. “ Robles asserted.
He said he was willing to submit to Tulfo’s committee the PCSO records pertaining to the issue on hand.
The senator also inquired into possible connivance with PCSO to manipulate the draw.
But PCSO officials said there were always people from the Commission on Audit. There is also a CCTV installed in the room where the draw is being conducted.
“You know among yourselves who won, but we the public don’t know yet until released to the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, Robles adverted to a “marketing campaign” meant to the augment the lotto jackpot prize to encourage more bets.
He said the strategy was a way of thanking the bettors for patronizing PCSO over the last 30 days.