Sweet 16: Jackpot worth waiting for

By Tina Santos

MANILA, Philippines—It definitely was sweet 16 for this lotto winner.

After 16 years of placing bets on the lottery games of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, a 44-year-old man’s persistence finally paid off.

The bettor from Batangas province won the 6/45 Megalotto jackpot prize of P24,589,191.60 on Valentine’s Day. The winner, a married man who’s an employee, was not named for security reasons.

“He said he started placing bets in 1995; inaalagaan talaga niya (he really nursed it). And now his persistence paid off and it was definitely worth the wait,” said Manny Garcia, PCSO public relations and advertising manager.

Garcia said the winner came to the PCSO office at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on Wednesday to claim his prize.

System 7

The winner correctly guessed the winning combination of 10-12-21-23-28-29.

Garcia said the winner chose seven numbers—birth dates and age of the members of his family—and played System 7.

“System 7 is played if you have seven numbers and you don’t know which number to drop. The computer will give you all the possible six-number combinations from your seven numbers. With System 7, you will have seven six-number combinations,” Garcia said.

The winner placed a P140 bet on the lucky combination, he added.

Garcia said the man did not say what he planned to do with his newfound wealth.

Last week, a man engaged in the buy-and-sell business and his helper, who placed their bets on a single ticket, hit the P77-million jackpot in the SuperLotto 6/49 draw on Feb. 10.

3 more millionaires

Three other people became instant millionaires as a result of the Feb. 16 draw.

The PCSO said two winners would split the Superlotto 6/55 jackpot prize of P87,752,689.20 after they both correctly guessed the combination of 5-7-10-12-18-20.

“One of the two winners came from Luzon and he or she placed a bet at a Marikina lotto outlet,” Garcia said.

The third winner, who placed a bet in Quezon City, won the P4.5-million jackpot prize for Megalotto 6/45. She correctly guessed the combination of 2-3-6-15-23-29.

The three new millionaires have yet to claim their prizes, the PCSO said.

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