The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office implemented last May 17 a new prize structure for its popular Lotto games, as it has publicly announced many times previously in the media.

PCSO General Manager lawyer Ferdinand Rojas 2nd said these changes were made to “address an increasing demand for PCSO medical – and healthcare-related assistance, especially in the previously underserved areas of the country in Visayas and Mindanao.”

PCSO raises revenue for its social programs from sales of lottery tickets, of which, under Presidential Decree 420, 30 percent is allotted to the Charity Fund, 55 percent to the Prize Fund, and 15 percent for agency operations.

The new prize structure was arrived at after long and careful study of methods that would
increase the amount allotted to the Charity Fund from revenue.

The minimum jackpot prizes were doubled for two of the games: for Lotto 6/42, from P3 million to P6 million; and for the Mega Lotto 6/45, from P4.5 million to P9 million.

As a consequence, the price per combination of these two games were pegged at P20 from P10.

The price per combination (P20) and minimum jackpot prizes of Super Lotto 6/49 (P16 million) and Grand Lotto 6/55 (P30 million) remain unchanged.

The prize structure of the second to fourth prizes of all the lotto games were altered. For the second and third prizes, a pari-mutuel system was adopted where in the prizes reflect the total sales pool for that particular draw.

Under such a system, the higher the sales, the higher the possible second to third prizes may be, unlike formerly when they were fixed.

Players may in fact be able to win higher prizes than before. For the second prizes: Lotto 6/42 was fixed at P20,000, but now a player may now win up to P25,000; for Mega Lotto 6/45, fixed at P23,000 but may now be as high as P50,000; Super Lotto 6/49, fixed at P56,000 but now up to P70,000; and Grand Lotto 6/55, fixed at P150,000 but now up to P200,000.

Similarly, for the third prizes: Lotto 6/42, from fixed at P500, now may be as high as P1,000; Mega Lotto 6/45, fixed at P600 but now up to P1,500; Super Lotto 6/49, fixed at P1,000 but now up to P2,000; and Grand Lotto 6/55, fixed at P2,000 but now up to P3,000.

The fourth prize for all games is now fixed at P20 (“balik-taya”). It is unchanged for Lotto 6/42, with the only changes being made to the other games: for Mega Lotto 6/45, from P40, Super Lotto 6/45 from P100, and Grand Lotto 6/55 from P150.

Further to these changes, PCSO has also increased its commission for lotto agents, from five percent to 7.5 percent, in order to encourage more entrepreneurs to open lotto outlets and contribute to the PCSO’s mission of raising revenues for its social programs.

In order to substantially augment its Charity Fund, PCSO will also be rolling out new and exciting games in the coming months.

Said Rojas, “We thank our customers for their patronage of the Lotto games and count on their continuing support for the benefit of our less privileged kababayans