MANILA - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office said Friday it doubled to roughly P1 billion its monthly remittances to the treasury after higher lottery taxes were imposed.

Lottery winnings of at least P10,000 are taxed 20 percent under a new regime that took effect last Jan. 1. The tax on revenues was doubled to 20 percent from 10 percent.

Demand was apparently unaffected, with small town lottery or STL sales alone rising 3 percent to P1.94 billion in February, said PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan.

Balutan said the PCSO focused its marketing strategy on the charity component of lottery ticket sales to attract more buyers.