MANILA - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Tuesday reported higher earnings in 2018, crediting an uptick in sales of Lotto tickets and other numbers games.

The state gaming agency earned P63.5 billion in 2018, 20 percent higher than revenue in 2017 which is about P53 billion, PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan told reporters.

The PCSO was the 6th top paying Government Owned and Controlled Corporation contributing P2.5 billion to the national government, he said.

Lotto and Digit Games sales were up by 14 percent at P31 billion, while small town lottery or STL revenue increased by 66 percent to P26 billion, he said.

Thousands of Filipinos queued in Lotto outlets last year after the jackpot reached a record P1.8 billion.

The expansion of small town lotteries from 18 in 2006 to 85 in 2018 was also among the factors that drove growth, he said.

All lotto numbers had profit and volume growth except for Keno which dropped 18 percent from 2017’s revenue, he said.

The gaming firm is looking to earn more in 2019 by making text betting available to the public this year.

The PCSO has yet to finalize the details of the new scheme, pending legal studies.