CEBU CITY, Philippines — Even in death, Comedy King Dolphy has made his fans smile.
The official time that Dolphy passed away – 8:34 p.m. – was the winning number combination of Swertres, the three-digit game of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), during the 11 a.m. draw on Wednesday.
More than 1,000 gambling enthusiasts won P4,500 each after betting on 834 during the Swertres-straight draw, said Federico Damole, PCSCO acting manager for Visayas and Mindanao.
He added there were around 1,200 winners for Swertres-Rambolito and would get P750 each in winning.
Damole said the PCSO draw could not be rigged as it was always witnessed by a representative of the Commission on Audit (COA).
“It was just coincidental,” he said.
Damole recalled that around four to five years ago, the number combination 225 was drawn during the Edsa 1 anniversary in February 25 while the 143 number was drawn in February 14, Valentines Day
Swertres-straight specifies the exact order on which the numbers are drawn. In Swertres-Rambolito, no particular order is required as long as the bettors have the winning digits.
Damole explained that the PCSO would only accept a maximum of 1,000 P10-bets on a single number combination for Swertres-straight and 1,200 bets for the Swertres-rambolito for the entire Visayas-Mindanao area. Once this number is reached, the PCSO would declare the number as sold out.
Since the PSCO outlets declared an early “sold out” of the 834 combination, many of the bettors decided to place bets with the illegal “swertres” ushers.
One of them, who won in the illegal numbers game based on the Swertres, was 49-year-old vendor Marites Canales in Pier 1, Cebu City.
“We were saddened over his death but we also feel happy that we won in the lotto,” said Canales, an avid Dolphy fan who never missed an episode of the sitcom “Home Along Da Riles” over ABS-CBN.
Canales said her live-in partner Johnny Gonzaga, 38, placed a P10-bet for the 834 combination in an illegal swertres outlet along Arellano Boulevard, Barangay (village) San Roque, Cebu City.
Under the illegal numbers game based on the Swertres, a bet of P1 can win P550 while a P10 bet on a winning number in PCSO Swertres lotto draw could win P4,500.
Canales said they read the actual time of Dolphy’s death from a local tabloid so they immediately placed a bet based on those numbers with the illegal numbers outlet in the area.
Canales said she and her live-in partner won around P5,500, which they would use as additional capital in their small business in Pier 1, Cebu City port area.
The 53-year-old Bebot Yu, a crewmember of an inter-island vessel MV Filipinas Iloilo which docked at pier 1, said he won P6,400 after placing a total of P20-bet (P10 placed on the straight result and the other P10 for the rumble result).
Yu said he was a fan of Dolphy, especially during his college days when he usually watched his movies.
He added that he rarely placed bets on the Swertres and would do so only if he got a special number combination based on an event.
When he saw the official time of Dolphy’s death in the Internet, Yu said he decided to place bets with the illegal numbers “usher.”
“I told myself that I hoped that Dolphy will refund all I spent to watch his movies,” he said.
The residents along Arellano Boulevard and nearby areas also placed bets on the winning combination at the illegal numbers outlet.
A source near the illegal swertres station in the area said the outlet had to pay out almost P500,000 or half million pesos because of the huge number of winners.
Some of the winners had yet to receive their prize money as of Wednesday, the source said.