MANILA -- As bettors continue to flock lotto outlets with dreams of becoming instant millionaires, questions on how the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) operates its lotto games also abound.

The questions centered on why and how the PCSO’s five major games carrying multi-million peso jackpot prizes were cornered, one by one, in just one month.

This, according to Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, is puzzling.

“In less than one month limang laro ang tinamaan... So, itong nangyari last December is really an anomaly. Hindi lang 1 game, 5 games,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said winning a lotto like the 6/55 game would require 28.9 million numerical combinations, and bagging the jackpot one after another in short gaps requires a lot of explanation.

• Sen. Tulfo to take closer look at lotto jackpot winners

“Ako’y nagdududa... Ang assumption, pag P500 million na yung jackpot, andyan nagdadagsaan na yung bettors. Naturally, it took months bago tamaan eh, then all of sudden itong augmentation ng P1 billion. All of sudden, sapol lahat,” he said.

PCSO officials who attended Thursday’s public hearing of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement maintained there was nothing irregular about all the winnings.

PCSO Assistant General Manager Arnel Casas also expressed their readiness to submit the lotto winners’ list to the panel.

“We will submit the so-called Alpha list indicating the list of the winners,” Casas said.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo, on the other hand, is puzzled by the PCSO’s decision to increase their original P28 million 6/49 game pot by P500 million, thereby jacking the jackpot prize to P640 million last December.

The jackpot was cornered by a supposed bettor last January 16.

PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles said the additional money came from a “prize fund” and was a “special promo” to entice more bettors which in the end, resulted to the agency’s total earnings of P800 million.

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But in total, the PCSO infused P1.7 billion to the lotto jackpot prizes, which Pimentel noted was done without clearance from the Office of the President.

“We decided to use it (Prize Fund). It got the same results and more kasi pati taxes nabigay sa gobyerno, mas malaki pa. In a span of 30 days na promotion. It is a very successful promo. Not only did we get charity, but we generated more taxes and income pa,” Robles explained.

Tulfo vowed to amend the PCSO charter so proceeds to the government’s charity programs will be increased.

“Sayang eh surplus, ang sarap pakinggan. Meaning, sobra-sobra na. So dapat, ang sobra-sobra na pera ibuhos sa kulang na ayuda sa mga nangangailangan, sa chemo, kidney dialysis, ambulance, hospital bills. Doon ibuhos ang surplus,” Tulfo said.

“The revenue allocation is mandated by law. Thirty percent will have to go to charity... Our charter needs to be amended,” Robles said.

Tulfo raised a theory that one could corner the 6/49 lotto jackpot by betting on all the number combinations amounting to P280M through a dedicated lotto machine. But Robles countered that PCSO records do not indicate that someone placed a bet on all number combinations.

The senator then raised another theory that the lotto system’s “root access” could be manipulated.

“Kunyari tataya ng 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, sabihin na natin halimbawa sa Novaliches. After matayaan, pupunta sa main computer system 'yung taong may root access na pagkatapos ng draw lumabas 789101112. Yung merong root access papalitan nya sa computer yung 123456, gagawin n'yang 789101112. Pwede ba yun?” the senator asked.

May Cereles, OIC-DM of the PCSO ruled out such a theory, stating that their whole betting and drawing system was closely guarded by their IT and audit personnel, the Commission on Audit, and surveillance cameras.

“Halimbawa nagsabwatan lahat. So yung ni-root access kaya pang manipulahin. Palabasin natin na may nanalo. Hindi nyo ginawa yun, possible or not?” Tulfo then asked.

“Possible po,” Cereles said.

But this was immediately countered by Robles.

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“When I came ako po yun din ang una kong tiningnan. Ang practice is, at 8:30 (p.m.) all bets are separated na. May standalone na computer. Pag nanonood ang tao sa amin, almost real time yun. Kaya I don’t think it’s possible. Kasi paglabas almost simultaneous. Nakahiwalay kami, 8:30 (p.m.) cutoff na, at 9 p.m. draw na... Hindi na maipapasok (ang new bets),” Robles said.

Before concluding the hearing, the two senators instructed the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to scrutinize the PCSO’s lotto games system and machines.

“We will set up a negotiated audit engagement,” DICT-CICC’s Drex Laggui committed to the panel.

The committee instructed the Bureau of Internal Revenue to submit the PCSO and its winning bettors’ tax records.

The panel also instructed the PCSO to reexamine the thermal paper they use in lotto tickets, which fades in just several months.

The PCSO gives a winning bettor one year to claim the prize, and a faded ticket would give the winner a huge problem in claiming the pot.

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