PCSO: Winner may ask someone else to claim prize

The winner in a Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office draw may ask someone else to claim his prize, PCSO general manager Mel Robles said on Tuesday.

In a statement following Senator Raffy Tulfo's remark that one person won 20 times in lotto draws in a month based on a list the PCSO submitted, Robles said a valid winning ticket "is transferable."

"To begin with these are not jackpot bearing games. The premise is all wrong. There were 20 claims made by one person not necessarily the winner because a winning valid ticket is transferable," Robles said.

"Meaning a winner can ask someone to claim his prize for him. And most of the time they ask the lotto agent to do it for them for a number of reasons," he added.

"Could be rediscounting or inability to claim the prize due to mobility issues, etc. The data they saw is not about winning per se.In actuality, it is about claiming," Robles said.

Tulfo on Tuesday disclosed that a bettor's name appeared to have won the lotto 20 times in one month, citing a list submitted by the PCSO.

"'Yung PCSO nagbigay ho sa akin ng listahan...Ito nga po ang sabi ko medyo nakakataas ng kilay, meron doon na isang tao nanalo ng 20 times in one month. Meron dun 10 times in one month," Tulfo said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(The PCSO has given me a list of winners and what caught our attention is this one bettor who won 20 times in just one month. There's another who won 10 times in one month.)  

"Siguro baka magkapangalan pero still pare-pareho 'yung premyo ang pinanalunan...Paulit-ulit in one month... Lalong tumambak ang mga questions," he added.

(Maybe there are some winners who just have the same name but the games that they won were also the same.)

Tulfo is leading the investigation into the integrity of PCSO games. Apart from the list of winners, the PCSO also submitted to the Senate panel the documents on the lotto games, including the tax records, of the jackpot winners.

"Bakit tuwing draw, may nananalo na? Ngayon, walang mintis. Samantalang nu'ng panahon na wala pa tong e-lotto, ang tagal bago panalunan. Inaabot ng isang buwan, dalawang buwan," Tulfo said.  

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel said it was impossible for one person to win the lottery 20 times in a month.

"Not heard about it yet. Will get the details first. But if that is the case, then that is not only improbable but impossible," said Pimentel, who has a degree in mathematics from the Ateneo de Manila University. —NB, GMA Integrated News