Record Philippine lottery jackpot won

30/11/2010 11:13:44

When we bring you news of the big world lottery draws, we’re often talking in the hundreds of millions. And so it’s easy to forget, that more impoverished countries in the world hold their own lottery draws and while the jackpots may not seem high to us, they are staggering amounts in poorer countries. This weekend a record Philippine lottery jackpot has been won by a single lottery player, a record for the country and big news right across the Philippines this week.

The lucky gambler, who has remained anonymous, will collect 741.176 million pesos, which may sound a lot of money, but is only $16.7 million. While it’s not a huge lottery prize, by Philippines standards, it’s huge.

One in three people in the Philippines lives on under a dollar a day, making it easy to see why this is such a huge lottery win. Lottery frenzy has been sweeping the country for months and this draw rolled over 86 times, making it a record jackpot for the lottery.

The lottery winner has not yet come forward to claim their prize but it’s hoped that within the next few days, lottery officials will have someone to congratulate.

As the odds of winning are 29 million to one, and many players can’t afford lottery tickets, it may be a while before we hear about the Philippine lottery again. Lottery ticket sales are low and don’t start to increase until the jackpot reaches these dizzy heights.

While we don’t usually cover the Philippine Lottery, this was a news story worth covering and while you may have missed your chance in the draw, it’s only worth about the same as tomorrow’s UK National Lottery jackpot, expect that has only rolled over twice to offer an £11 million to players.