P249 Million Super Lotto Winner Starts Life Anew Sans Pigs
General
I wrote about the state lottery or lotto a few months ago and how it is an additional, and insidious, burden against the poor, who make up the vast majority of lotto players. It’s also a major source of funds which the Arroyo administration routinely dips into for questionable purposes. No proper, transparent audit is done of lotto funds. It’s a form of gambling which sustains institutionalized corruption .
Of course, all my pontificating about the evils of the lotto didn’t stop me from recently betting on the 6/49 Super Lotto draw, where the prize had grown to a record-breaking P249 million jackpot for the proper six-number combination. I didn’t win it, of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be blogging about it now. I would be at a remote premier island resort in Malaysia or Indonesia or somewhere, chuckling at the whims of fate while polishing off my second or third US$40,000 magnum of Lafite ‘45.
Instead, I’m in front of my monitor, trying to be philosophical about my failing to achieve my life-changing fantasy and plotting my next stab at instant millionairehood.
Everyone in the office, from the messenger to the president, bet on the Super Lotto as the pot got bigger. Of course, it was the messenger who had to stand in line for an hour or more with everyone’s betting slips. Life isn’t fair but, theoretically at least, everyone had an even chance of winning, from the janitor to the CEO.
As it turned out the single winner of the P249 million was from Novaliches, Quezon City. The lotto outlet which sold the winning ticket is located at a public market a block or so away from a co-worker’s home, and for days the neighborhood was abuzz with rumors as to who could have won. The winner wisely went under deep cover, fearful of being kidnapped or cornered by well-wishers expecting the traditional “balato”. Then, out of the blue, an unassuming neighborhood hog raiser and meat trader gave away all his livestock to neighbors and random strangers, and hurriedly abandoned his house. A lucky few close friends reportedly received tidy sums as a goodwill and farewell gesture before he disappeared for parts unknown. He has now become part of Philippine lotto lore, and his story will be clung to and retold by millions of future bettors hoping for that one, life-altering 6-number combination. Read the rest of this entry »

