How Much Does a PCSO Lotto Ticket Cost?

What a PCSO lotto ticket costs

The price of a PCSO lotto ticket is PHP 25 per bet. That is up from the old PHP 20, a change that took effect in February 2025¹. If you last bought a ticket a few years ago and remember handing over a 20-peso coin, the extra five pesos is the new normal.

One ticket equals one bet. If you want to play more combinations, you buy more tickets or mark more bets on your playslip, and the cost multiplies by PHP 25 each time. There is no membership, no account fee and no separate charge for using the official online platform. The PHP 25 is the whole cost of a single entry.

For context, that price sits in the middle of what lotteries charge across Asia. Singapore Sweep tickets run S$3 each including GST for a single entry⁵, while some regional games start far lower, such as the Lao lottery at 1,000 kip per ticket⁶. PCSO's PHP 25 is a modest, fixed price with no tiers.

Where to buy PCSO lotto tickets

The traditional network is the backbone of PCSO sales: about 4,600 kiosks nationwide³. These are the small booths and counters you see in malls, markets and along busy streets. You walk up, mark your numbers or ask for a quick pick, pay PHP 25, and take your printed ticket.

PCSO also runs its own online channel, e-Lotto, a web-based platform that lets bettors buy tickets online¹. It began as a one-year test run starting December 15, 2023³, and it is the official way to play without visiting a kiosk. If you use it, you still pay the same PHP 25 per bet.

A few practical points for buying:

• At a kiosk: bring cash in small bills. You mark your own numbers on a playslip or ask the teller for a random pick.
• Online: you need to verify your identity before you can load an account or buy tickets¹.
• Availability: sales can be limited to selected areas depending on local conditions, so a kiosk that is open one week may not be the next⁷.

If you are not in the Philippines, buying through the official platform is the only route that keeps you inside PCSO's own system. Third-party sites that look like lotteries are a separate matter, and the results they use are not the same as holding a real PCSO ticket.

The games you can play

PCSO's lineup has grown well beyond the original lotto draw. The game forms now include three-digit (3D), four-digit (4D) and six-digit (6D) games, plus the big jackpot draws Mega Lotto 6/45 and Super Lotto 6/49⁴. Each one costs the same PHP 25 per bet.

The digit games are the quick ones. You pick a short number, the draw comes around fast, and the prizes are smaller and more frequent. The 6/45 and 6/49 games are the classic pick-six draws where the jackpot rolls over when nobody matches all the numbers.

PCSO's revenue comes from several streams: the Sweepstakes Draw, the National Lotteries including Lotto, the Small Town Lotteries, and horse racing⁹. So when you buy a lotto ticket, you are playing one part of a much larger operation that also runs sweepstakes and community-based games.

Price per bet: PHP 25

Jackpots and minimum prize levels

Jackpot amounts are not fixed. They start at a base level for each game and grow every draw that passes without a winner, because the unwon prize carries over into the next one. PCSO has pushed for a total jackpot prize of 1 billion pesos across its games to generate interest¹.

That means the headline number you see advertised is a moving target. A 6/45 jackpot might sit at PHP 37 million one week and climb the next if nobody wins. The base prize for each game is set by the game's own rules, and the rollover does the rest.

Smaller prizes work differently. They are paid at fixed levels depending on how many of your numbers match, and they do not roll over. If you match a few numbers but not the jackpot combination, you collect a lower-tier prize rather than a share of the big pool.

For a sense of scale, PCSO's other competitions show how wide the prize range runs. In a past Silver Cup event, the third placer received P350,000 and the fourth P 250,000¹⁰. Lotto jackpots sit far above those figures, which is exactly why the rollover draws attract so much attention.

Tax on winnings

Prizes above PHP 10,000 are subject to a 20% withholding tax under the TRAIN Law¹. The tax is taken out before you are paid, so what you receive is already net.

The payment method changes with the size of the prize:

• PHP 10,000 and below: paid in cash, claimable from PCSO outlets, PCSO branch offices or the Treasury Department of the PCSO Main Office².
• Above PHP 10,000 up to PHP 60,000: paid in cash, net of the 20% final tax².
• Above PHP 10,000: paid in checks, net of the 20% final tax².

So a PHP 50,000 prize arrives as PHP 40,000 in cash after the 20% is withheld. A jackpot is paid by check, also net of the 20%. The threshold is the key number to remember: PHP 10,000 is where the tax starts, and it applies to the amount above that line in the way PCSO's guidance sets out.

Claiming your prize

Where you claim depends entirely on how much you have won¹:

• PHP 20 up to PHP 10,000: any authorized PCSO lotto outlet or PCSO branch office.
• PHP 10,001 up to PHP 300,000: the PCSO Branch Office in your area or the PCSO Main Office.
• PHP 300,000.01 and above, including jackpots: the PCSO Main Office on Shaw Blvd. in Mandaluyong City.

Before you go, sign the back of the winning ticket with your full name and signature¹. This is the single most important step, because an unsigned ticket is much harder to prove as yours. Then bring two valid government-issued IDs with your photo and signature¹.

The ticket itself has to be in good shape. Winning tickets must be intact and readable, and damaged, mutilated, altered or unreadable barcodes will not be honored¹. Keep your ticket flat and dry, and do not fold it across the barcode.

You have one year from the draw date to claim. After that, the prize is forfeited and the money reverts to PCSO charity funds¹. For a jackpot claim, the whole process is designed to take about one working day, with the Treasury Department stage alone allotted four hours².

If you play through e-Lotto, you verify your identity up front by providing a picture of the front and back of a valid ID plus a selfie, and PCSO checks it before you can load an account or buy tickets¹. Accepted IDs include the PhilID or ePhilID, SSS card, GSIS card, UMID, LTO driver's license, PRC ID, PhilHealth ID, TIN ID, Postal ID, Philippine passport, OWWA ID, COMELEC voter's ID or certificate, IBP ID, Senior Citizen ID, Person with Disability ID, and for foreign nationals an Alien Certificate of Registration ID card or DOLE work permit, among others¹.

Watching the draw and checking results

You do not need to be at a kiosk to see the numbers come out. PCSO runs official lotto draw broadcasts, and you can also follow along on social media pages such as Facebook and YouTube¹. Results are published on lottopcso.com as well¹.

The practical routine is simple: note your draw day, watch or check the results afterward, and compare your numbers. If you have a winner, sign the ticket immediately, before you do anything else. That one habit prevents most of the problems people run into at claim time.

If you need to contact PCSO

PCSO publishes contact numbers for player questions. The mobile lines are 09457746439, 09152962243 and 09177035866, the landline is 0284043956, and the email is pcsomain.charity@pcso.gov.ph¹¹. The official website is pcso.gov.ph⁹.

Use these channels for questions about draws, claims or the e-Lotto platform rather than relying on third-party pages. If a site or message claims to be PCSO but does not match these details, treat it with caution.