Philippines’s President calls for investigation into ‘Lottery’

06.10.2022

Participants in the Grand Lotto select six numbers from one to 55. To win the jackpot, all six of a player's numbers must match those drawn by the lottery's operator.

These lotto games are authorised by the Republic of the Philippines. According to Mr Pimentel, we need to maintain and protect the integrity of these gambling games, as he called for an investigation into the lottery's unusual outcome.

Many of them have held onto their numbers. It's good to be loyal to your wives and husbands, but it's also good to be loyal to your numbers, he said at a news conference.

There are hundreds of lotteries every day around the world, and it would not be surprising that one of these lotteries would exhibit an unusual pattern every few decades, he said.

It's similar to how in any given hand of poker it would be unlikely to draw a straight flush, but if one looked at hundreds of thousands of hands at once, it actually becomes quite likely that a straight flush would be drawn, he added.

There were accusations of fraud after 20 people shared the jackpot in South Africa's national lottery in December 2020, when the numbers five, six, seven, eight, nine and 10 were drawn.

More than 4,000 correctly picked five out of the six numbers - all multiples of seven - and ended up collecting just 15 each for their win.