THE WIFE of a Cebuano fisherman got the biggest haul of her life when she claimed yesterday the more than P24-million jackpot prize she won in the May 31 draw of the Lotto 6/42.
The 37-year-old housewife and her husband are set to bid goodbye to their coastal community in Lapu-Lapu City to live a life of comfort in the suburbs as multimillionaires after she became the lone player to correctly guess the winning number combination 19-37-09-07-23-02. She took home exactly P24,710,648.
For safety and security reasons, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) does not reveal the identity of its winners.
When the winner claimed her prize at the agency’s head office in Mandaluyong City, she told PCSO Vice Chair and General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II that she took her chances at the lottery as she believed that it can help her and her husband improve their lot in life.
“This is the only thing I thought of that could help lift us from poverty,” the winner, who has been playing the lottery over the last two decades, told Rojas.
Rojas said that the winner, who only bought two tickets worth P40 to win the jackpot prize, got her lucky numbers from her family’s birth dates and her age.
Now that she has become a multimillionaire, the winner said that she and her husband will soon leave the hut they had been living in for many years to transfer to the new house they are set to purchase.
She added that her husband can also retire his boat and oar so that they can focus on the business they plan to invest her prize in. Rojas said that the couple, however, has yet to decide on the type of business they would open.
Since January, over a dozen players have already won and claimed the PCSO’s jackpot prizes.