PCSO: Photo of lotto winner edited to protect identity

THE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) admitted on Thursday that it had edited the photo of the winner of Lotto 6/42 drawn on December 28, 2023, to protect her identity.

During a Senate hearing on the proposed prohibition on online betting on instant paper games and lotteries, Senator Raffy Tulfo asked PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles about whether the photo was altered, as some internet users had questioned its authenticity. 

Robles replied in the affirmative, saying they altered the clothes of the woman from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, who won the prize of P43,882,361.60.

‘’We have to protect the identity of the winner. Mayroon pong nagreklamo sa amin one time. We covered the face eh yung damit naman po ay nakilala. Nagreklamo siya sana naman daw po huwag ipakita ang damit. So iyan po ang reason niyan,’’ he said.

The PCSO chief then apologized for the ‘’poor editing.”

‘’If there’s something to apologize for, it’s the poor editing, but I think it has served its purpose of concealing the identity,’’ Robles said.

‘’We’re not very good at editing clothes,’’ he added. ”Tunay na tao po ‘yan.”

On Wednesday, the PCSO shared a picture of the woman on its Facebook page, along with a story about how she won. 

The photo was taken on the day she claimed her winnings.

According to the PCSO, the 47-year-old housewife correctly guessed the winning numbers, 18-34-01-11-28-04, based on the birth dates of her family as well as two additional numbers, 28 and 34.

The PCSO said the woman placed the bet since the number 28 often represents a car and 34 a house.

‘’She disclosed that she plans to invest her winnings in business, buy a new home, and deposit the rest into her two children’s savings accounts,’’ it said.