History of Philippine Lotteries

Historically, lotteries have been in existence in the Philippines as early as 1833. Under the auspices of private enterprises called Empresa de Reales Loteria Espanolas de Filipinas, the Spanish Government conducted loterias to generate revenues. In fact, our own national hero Dr. Jose Rizal won Php 6,200.00 in the draw of 1892, while on exile in Dapitan. He donated his winnings to an educational project. This altruistic act gives an inkling of what could be done if the lottery was harnessed for charitable and social welfare projects.

With the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, the loteria was forced to stop operations. And it was not until the early 1930s that the idea of holding lottery games was revived. In 1932, the first Sweepstakes draw was conducted by the government to raise funds to support sports projects for the Filipino youth through the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) - the beneficiary of the first draw.

The PAAF Sweepstakes was successful so Philippine government decided to conduct more draws for the benefit of the Philippine Anti-Tuberculosis Society, now the Philippine Tuberculosis Society (PTS). The draws were held under the auspices of an organization called the National Charity Sweepstakes .

Read the rest of PCSO history here.