LOTTERY officials are facing calls for a cheating probe after 433 punters all won the jackpot with the same numbers.

The winners are in line to split the £3.5million top prize – but politicians say they fear "foul play" and demanded an inquiry.

On Monday the government-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office posted photos of dozens of winners queuing to register their claims.

It said a total of 433 tickets matched all six numbers — 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 and 54 — in the 6/55 Grand Lotto Draw on Saturday.

The winning numbers are all multiples of nine.

Because so many players split the jackpot of 236million Philippine pesos, they will get just £8,315 each.

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Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel called for official hearings into the “strange and unusual” result.

He said: “These lotto games are authorised by the Republic of the Philippines. Therefore, we need to maintain and protect the integrity of these gambling games.”

He added that if Senate hearings went ahead, statisticians would be asked to weigh in on the chances such a result could be legitimate.

Another senator, Risa Hontiveros, also called call for an investigation.

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She said: “We just want rule out any doubts in the public mind that the results have been manipulated.

“While we recognise that people tend to bet in patterns, we also want to make sure the system is secure, free from glitches, and trustworthy.”

Organisers said they welcomed a senate inquiry, but assured punters the televised draw cannot be rigged.

PCSO boss Mel Robles said they "found nothing wrong" with the result, and winning tickets were bought all over the Philippines.

He said: “It’s a natural occurrence that there are those who bet on the same numbers and many will win if those were drawn.

“We are, in fact, pleased that many won since Christmas is near.”

He added: “It so happened that many bet on that. As viewed by the habit of earlier bettings, the same combinations, we track them, a lot are really betting on the same numbers.”

Experts say is not unusual for many people to pick the same pattern of numbers.

Tito Villarino of the Philippine Gaming Management Corporation said: “Worldwide, ‘Lucky 9’ is very popular when it comes to the lottery.

“Based on the information…it only shows that it’s not only here in the Philippines but worldwide, the number nine is very lucky for all the betting public, except for Japan because they have a different culture.”

Lottery data around the world show there are several other combinations that are also popular.

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Every week in the UK, thousands are said to pick the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 and 6.

The numbers have the same chance of coming up as any other combination – but if they did each winner would get only a small share of the jackpot.

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