Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Sunday, October 2 said he is keen on filing a resolution seeking to investigate the recent “strange and unusual” result of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s gaming activities after 433 bettors won the P236-million jackpot for the 6/55 Grand Lotto draw last Saturday.
Pimentel said an audit and investigation into the PCSO’s gaming activities is necessary to ensure the integrity of the state-owned and operated lotto games and protect the millions of Filipinos who bet on their favorite lotto game.
“Katakataka yung result na yan. Yung 433 ang mananalo, supposed to be ang chances mo diyan is 1 in how many millions. So ibig sabihin, ganun kahirap dapat tamaan yan and then to say na 433 ang tumama (The result is very strange. For 433 to win, supposed to be your chances of winning is one in how many millions. That means, it’s that hard to win in that draw and then to say that 433 won), there is something suspicious,” Pimentel said in an interview over radio station DZBB on Sunday.
“Talagang marami po ang nagtaka, na medyo nagulat (Many were astonished, and of course, surprised) because statistically speaking, this is a very rare event. Let us take this opportunity to investigate so that ang purpose natin is (our purpose is) to ensure the integrity of our lotto games,” Pimentel, a 1990 Bar topnotcher and also a Mathematics gold medalist during his school days.
“We have to look at the entire system of our lotto games. This is a good chance kasi maraming nagtatanong (because a lot of people are asking),” he stressed.
Pimentel said he will file a resolution to investigate the matter, saying he too was perplexed by the result.
“I will file a resolution, because this is my concern, these lotto games are authorized by the Republic of the Philippines. Therefore, we need to maintain and protect the integrity of these gambling games that we have authorized,” Pimentel said.
The senator said he will seek the opinion of statisticians and mathematicians regarding results of PCSO draws.
“Tanungin natin ang PCSO kung mga lucky pick (LP) ba itong mga winners na ito, that means system-generated yung number nung tumaya pero therefore there is nothing random about their LP kasi ibig sabihin nun binigay nila sa 400 plus katao, umulit-ulit. Millions po ang combination diyan (We will ask PCSO if these winners won by lucky pick (LP) because that means the number is system-generated, therefore, there is nothing random about the LP because they gave it to more than 400 persons, repeatedly. There should be a million combinations there),” he pointed out.
“So tatanungin na lang natin sa PCSO. Before this draw, anong pinakamaraming winners sa 6/55? Siguro sasabihin nila dalawa lang eh (what was the highest number of winners for 6/55? They might say only two persons may win). So we have to look at it,” he stressed.
“Meron na kasi akong napansin noon sa draw nila sa isang 6-digit (draw), may 10 winners. So para sa akin, bihira na nga ang may 2 winners, bihira na nga ang may pinakamalaki number na nga ng winners nila dun sa 6 digits nila is 3 winners. Nagkaroon ng isang instance na 10 winners. Nakakapagtaka na para sa akin yun. At 6 -digits, (I already noticed this before in one of their 6-digit draw, they had 10 winners. For me, having two winners is very rare, at most the highest number for a 6-digit draw is at least three winners. There was an instance they had 10 winners. So that to me is puzzling. At six-digits) which is one in a one million yung probability,” he explained.
“Statistically speaking (it) is a very rare event na dapat I-take advantage natin ang (that we should take the advantage and) opportunity to investigate so that ang (our) purpose (is) to ensure the integrity of our games,” Pimentel emphasized.
Sought to comment, Sen. Risa Hontiveros expressed her support to Pimentel’s plan to seek a Senate probe to investigate the “extraordinary results” of PCSO’s Saturday draw.
“I support my minority leader in his call to investigate the extraordinary results of last night's lotto draw,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Hontiveros said the minority bloc would just “want to rule out any doubts in the public mind that the results have been manipulated.”
“While we recognize that people tend to bet in patterns, we also want to make sure the system is secure, free from glitches, and trustworthy,” she said.
RELATED STORY: https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/02/433-bettors-hit-grand-lotto-jackpot-prize/