MANILA - Some of the 433 winners of the Oct. 1 draw of the 6/55 Grand Lotto started claiming their prize on Monday at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Mandaluyong City, the agency said.

Photos of some of the lucky bettors on the combination 09-45-36-27-18-54 who will share the P236 million jackpot prize were shared by the PCSO on its official Facebook page.

• 433 winners to split P236M 6/55 Grand Lotto jackpot

"Dumating na sa tanggapan ng PCSO Main Office sa Mandaluyong City ang ilan sa 433 Jackpot Winners sa naganap na Grandlotto 6/55 draw noong Sabado, October 1, 2022 upang kobrahin ang kanilang napanalunan," the agency's FB post read.

"Paghahatian ng 433 Jackpot Winners ang Jackpot Prize na Php236,091,188.40," it added.

Each winner is expected to receive P545,245.24, subject to 20 percent tax.

There were also 331 winners of the second prize worth P100,000, and 2,491 third prize winners (P1,500 each).

According to the agency, the first winner to receive his share of the prize claimed to have traveled for 10 hours to reach the PCSO office.

"Nagpapasalamat po ako sa PCSO na marami kaming nabibiyayaan ng Jackpot Prize. Nagbiyahe po ako ng sampung oras upang makarating dito at makuha ang aking napanalunan," the PCSO quoted the man to have said.

"Tumataya po talaga ako ng pattern 9, pattern 8, pattern 7 at pattern 6 sa loob ng maraming taon at ako'y nagpapasalamat na ngayon ay napanalunan ko na," he added.

Saturday's draw results for the 6/55 Grand Lotto stirred controversy because of the combination's pattern of being multiples of 9, and the unusually high number of winners.

PCSO vice chairperson and general manager Melquiades Robles said Sunday that the results only showed Filipinos' betting behaviors, particularly the tendency to keep select numbers.

• Senators call for investigation into 'suspicious' Grand Lotto results

"Kaya maraming nanalo, kasi ang daming nag-aalaga [ng numero]," Robles said in a news conference.

PCSO chairperson Junie Cua assured the public that the incident was above board.

"While statistically this is a very rare occurrence, theoretically it can also happen because lottery is a game of chance," Cua told ANC's "Rundown" on Monday.

Sen. Koko Pimentel said Sunday he is considering filing a resolution to "audit and investigate" the gaming activities of the PCSO following what he calls "strange and unusual" results of Saturday's draw.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she supports Pimentel's move "to rule out any doubts in the public mind that the results have been manipulated."

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