By Jel Santos
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Tuesday, November 20, said it has already reached its P55-billion initial target for the month of October, two months before 2018 ends.
“As of January to October, our gross sales are already at P54.8 billion, which is 27 percent higher compared to the same period last year. When we say overall, that is combined Lotto, Keno, Small Town Lottery (STL), and Instant Sweepstakes,” Alexander Balutan, PCSO general manager, said.
In 2017, the agency initially targeted P55 billion but it was adjusted to P60 billion because of the rollout of STL.
“Like I always say, figures don’t lie. This is a proof that PCSO is and has always been on the right track in meeting its revenue target or more by the end of this year,” he said.
PCSO data showed that Lotto was the highest earning product with P27,987,584,260 gross sales, which is 5.13 percent higher compared to the same period last year. To recall PCSO's Ultra Lotto 6/58 has reached the biggest jackpot in the country's lottery history, enticing many people to purchase lotto tickets. This dramatically soared up its sales.
Next to it was STL which has a P21.9 billion sales; Keno with P3,899,533,950 sales; and Instant Sweepstakes with P958,364,000.
“We are confident that we will once again break our sales records and hit the P60 billion sales by the end of this year. And this is because of the phenomenal sales brought about by the record-breaking jackpot prize that reached P1 billion for the Ultra Lotto. Its promotion, popularity, and public acceptance also helped other online lotto games to increase sales for the months of September and October. STL sales is also unprecedented for this period,” Arnel Casas, officer-in-charge Assistant General Manager for Gaming, said.
The PCSO general manager also attributed the growing sales to he Expanded STL operations being operated by Authorized STL Agents (ASAs) nationwide.
“Second highest earning product ang STL That’s why very aggressive tayo sa ating campaign against illegal gambling, especially ‘yung mga jueteng, swertres, at pares. Only PCSO is the authorized by the government to operate. Tangkilin natin ang authorized numbers games sa ating mga probinsya para makatulong tayo sa paglago ng ating pondo,” Balutan added.