Ultra Lotto jackpot exceeds P1B; PCSO says even foreigners can win
MANILA – The jackpot prize for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Ultra Lozo 6/58 has breached P1 billion and con nues to climb as the country’s richest lozery winnings ever.
PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said yesterday there was s ll no winner as of the October 7 (45‐ 21‐02‐30‐07‐10) draw. Up for grabs during the weekend draw was already an unprecedented P954,503,164.
Balutan said PCSO is again expec ng long lines of bezors for the Tuesday evening, October 9 draw.
But here’s the catch. Balutan said even foreigners can bet and win in Philippine lozo draws, as long as they are at least aged 18 years old.
“Even foreigners can win the jackpot prize if they bought a cket as long as they are 18 years old and above, which is the age requirement, and as long the claimant has the winning cket, he or she can take home the jackpot prize,” he said.
The PCSO chief said he has received reports that many foreigners have been purchasing lozo ckets, en ced by the huge payoff.
Ultra Lozo draws are held Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. To win, a bezor must select 6 numbers from 1 to 58 or play Lucky Pick (LP) for a randomly generated numbers. Each bet cost P24.00.
Whenever there is no winner of a draw, the prize money is rolled over and grows bigger.
No one has picked the right Ultra Lozo combina ons in past 110 weeks.
“Itong P1‐billion jackpot prize ay napaka-historic sa PCSO, lahat, lalo na ‘yung mga tumataya eh excited, ‘di na mapakali, at gustung-gusto na talagang manalo. (This P1‐ billion jackpot prize is historic for PCSO, everyone is very excited. They all want to win the top prize.) Whoever wins this prize will be the first‐ever PCSO billionaire,” Balutan said.
Balutan said, if he had his way, he wants many people to share the big jackpot prize “so many will become millionaires.”
“Sana maraming manalo para distributed ‘yung jackpot prize lalo na itong P1 bilyon kasi sobrang laki n’yan, nakakalula! Para marami tayong mapaligaya. At habang papalaki ng papalaki ang jackpot, lumalaki din ang sales na n sa Ultra Lozo. Napalaking tulong ito sa a ng charity fund. Sana may masuwertehan na talaga,” he said.
(I hope many will win to distribute the jackpot prize, specially this P1 billion prize which is so big it makes you dizzy. I hope we can make many people happy. And as the jackpot money keeps geng bigger, so does our Ultra Lozo sales. This will be a big boost to our charity fund. I hope someone get’s lucky soon.)
The biggest PCSO lozery ever claimed by a single winner was the November 29, 2010, Grand Lozo 6/55 which saw a “balikbayan” from Olongapo City, bring home the P741‐ million jackpot. Balutan said the 60‐year‐old Filipino winner resided in New York and bought the cket at Royal Duty Free Mall in Subic, Olongapo. His winning combina on was 11‐16‐42‐47‐31‐37.
The last winners of the Ultra Lozo were two bezors who correctly got the winning combina on of 15‐31‐28‐ 25‐42‐11 last February 16. They shared the cash prize of P331,971,464.
Balutan said bezors should keep their ckets with care. Damaged winning ckets will not be honored.
“Remember to keep your ckets and keep it in a safe place. You might not win the en re six digits, but you have a prize if you got the four winning combina ons correctly,” he said.
According to the Ultra Lozo rules on the PCSO website: bezors who get 5 of the 6 winning numbers may win at least P280,000; 4 correct numbers may win up to P3,800.
The actual consola on cash prizes “are determined based on the total sales generated and the number of winners on the par cular draw.”
Jackpot winners should bring two valid iden fica on cards, and present the winning
cket to the prize claim sec on of the accoun ng and budget department at PCSO headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
A8er valida on, the treasury department, will turnover check indica ng the amount won with the winner’s name.
Winners can encash the check at the Landbank of the Philippines or open a bank account for safekeeping.
Of course, Balutan said all lozeries are games of chance. However, there is one thing certain the winner of the billion‐peso Ultra Lozo jackpot will pay a 20 percent tax due to the government and the amount will be automa cally deducted. That’s mandated by TRAIN law.