The winners had been counting on the multiples-of-9 combination for years, in the hope of winning someday.
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): Some of the 433 winners in the Grand Lotto 6/55 draw on Saturday (Oct 1) are now claiming their share of the P236-million (RM19mil) jackpot.
Their collective stroke of luck has generated controversy since it is rare to have that many winners in the state lottery. Furthermore, they won through a combination of numbers that happened to be all divisible by a single digit, in this case, 9.
On Monday, around 50 of those winners were seen lining up at the headquarters of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Mandaluyong City.
The PCSO even posted on its Facebook page photos of them at a waiting area, although some of those photos were blurred.
Six of those winners obliged the agency and posed individually as they held their lucky tickets close to the camera.
The first to show up at the PCSO office said he commuted for 10 hours to claim his P545,034.64 (RM43,000) —the cash prize that each of the 433, dividing the jackpot, will receive. Their share is subject to a 20-per cent tax.
“I thank the PCSO that many of us were blessed with the jackpot...,” that winner said when interviewed by the lottery agency.
He also said he had been counting on the multiples-of-9 combination for years, in the hope of someday winning.
“I’ve always been betting on the pattern 9, pattern 8, pattern 7 and pattern 6 for many years, and I am thankful that this time, I won,” he said.
