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The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has been contemplating on phasing out the Power Lotto and replace it with a game just like the three other existing lotto games. This plan was welcomed by Pacific Online Systems Corp., saying such move would boost the sales for next year.

Since its introduction last year, Power Lotto hasn’t really caught the fancy of lotto bettors, so it will be replaced by a new six-digit 6/55. Chairman of Pacific Online Willy N. Ocier, said in an interview, “The new game will improve our sales by 25%.”

The income of the gaming company surge by 70% to P167.7 million from January to July, primarily because of the expansion of retail outlets and wider distribution of its scratch lottery card games.

The equipment being used by the PCSO for online lottery operations in the Visayas and Mindanao were leased from Pacific Online. The agency has almost 4,000 online terminals all over the country, half of which are in the Luzon area, which were provided by another company, the Prime Gaming Philippines, Inc.

Pacific Online plans to add 300 new terminals next year, increasing total terminals to 2,100. The country can accommodate at least 7,000 online terminals, said Ocier. “I doubt if the Visayas and Mindanao regions can grow as big as Luzon. The money is in Luzon.”

The plan to phase out Power Lotto was confirmed by PCSO spokesman Larry Cedro, but quickly added that the decision hasn’t been finalized yet. “Based on the survey, there is a low response for Power Lotto because the betting price is already prohibitive,” he said.

The price of Power Lotto is P50 per bet, which was aimed to target the A and B market. It is 400% higher compared with regular and Mega Lotto six-digit bets and 150% more than the P20 bet price of Super Lotto 6/49.