Being a certified public accountant, Ms. Dorao has a keen eye on numbers. As such, she immediately notices potential business opportunities before everyone else does. While she was still working in a bank, she started her entrepreneurial venture by being a cola distributor in her province of Pangasinan. This of course wasn’t enough to contain her entrepreneurial spirit. When Lotto was first offered back in 2003, she dived in head first, knowing the potential profit it can generate backed by the integrity of the PCSO. But selling just Lotto still wasn’t enough. There was something missing from the formula. In 2009, Ms. Dorao looked into the other products that the PCSO offers and this was her initial introduction to Scratchit™ instant tickets.

With her affinity for finance and numbers, she immediately saw the potential benefits and quick return of her investment with Scratchit™ as compared to other businesses she could have gone into. Even compared to Lotto itself, the profit margins from Scratchit™ were way higher than she ever dreamed of. Now that she’s retired, she focuses all her time on managing her bustling Lotto and Scratchit™ outlets scattered in the provinces of Pangasinan and Baguio.

What’s the secret? One of the major factors that contribute to her success is how she cares for her employees. Ms. Dorao makes sure that they get a little something extra for what they sell, so all her tellers and operators are motivated to do their best. As such, her employees are loyal to her in return. In fact, some of her operators are close to being with her for five years already. Now that’s something.

Another reason for her success is how hands-on she is with training her employees to sell and push the product as well. But more importantly, she values customer service. Ms. Dorao places numbers in all of her outlets, urging customers to contact her if they have had a bad experience or if something went awry.

In such a short period of time, Evangeline Dorao has emerged to become one of the highest selling provincial distributors for Scratchit™ instant tickets. This just goes to show how when opportunity knocks, you have to be ready to answer it, lest it passes you by. For Ms. Dorao, she embraced the opportunity that Scratchit™ has given her and she’s ready for more.

When opportunity knocks on your door, you have to answer it. This is a fact that Benito andPinky Conde of Bacolod can attest to. Once you see an opportunity, you have to grab it asquickly as possible lest it slips away.

Back in 2005, couple Benito and Pinky Conde opened up 3 Big Brother, which is amodestly sized restaurant nestled in the heart of Bacolod. Sales were doing okay but Mr.Conde decided to go out of his comfort zone and explore other business opportunities.Thus in 2007, he applied to become a Lotto agent. Since he already had the restaurant,supplementing his income with a little lotto station shouldn’t be too hard. This was thepoint when things began to change for the Condes.

Word spread quickly of their restaurant selling PCSO products, and people came in droves.The community embraced the idea and started playing everything they could get theirhands on – from lotto, to Scratchit™ and most recently with Keno. The couple immediatelynoticed that their restaurant sales went down as people would visit 3 Big Brother more toplay than dine. Rather than abandon the idea altogether, they mulled over it and went overthe books. While they were losing on the food front, they were already making more moneythan they imagined from their lotto and Scratchit™ sales! This was a surprising turnaroundbut then they knew that they had something good on their hands, something that cansupport their livelihood.

They attribute their success and their customers’ enjoyment to Scratchit™’s instantwinnings. There is no need to wait for hours on end just to know if you won or not. All ittakes is a few scratch on the card and you’ll immediately know whether you won anythingfrom P20 to a whopping P500,000. It is this winning experience that keeps the crowdcoming back for more.

It’s incredible to think about how Mr. and Mrs. Conde transformed their businesspractically overnight into the thriving enterprise it is now. Currently, they’re looking toexpand their horizons to the neighboring region of Tacloban. For the Condes, good thingsdefinitely come in small, scratchable packages.

It wasn’t a walk in the park for him to achieve the top spot though. In fact, Bobby isn’t even a Lotto agent, as most people are quick to assume is the fast track to riches. His business sits squarely in the shoulders of Scratchit™ instant tickets and of course coupled with his unmatched perseverance, dedication, and work ethic.

For Bobby, it all started a few years ago. He was managing a Lotto outlet when he was approached to sell Scratchit™ instant tickets. He brought the idea to his boss who was less than enthusiastic about it and declined. He however, saw the potential in the product and sprung his own money to buy Scratchit™ booklets.

We’d love to say, “The rest is history” here but that is not the case. Like all successful businessmen, Bobby worked long and hard for each Peso he made and continues to make. Being a family man, he knew that just managing a Lotto outlet couldn’t provide for his wife and kid. He was actually looking for other job opportunities when Scratchit™ knocked on his door and before he knew it, he had the answer to his problems on the palm of his hand.

Slowly but steadily, his Scratchit™ sales grew and grew. He started by selling 1 booklet and now he is able to move 100 booklets in a week. That’s certainly not an easy feat and true to form, Bobby worked hard for it. Recognizing that he can’t just depend on the sales of a single outlet alone, Bobby expanded his horizons and put up an outlet dedicated solely to Scratchit™ instant tickets. Quite a gamble but quite effective as well! Building from this success, he also recently opened another Scratchit™-only outlet in the heart of a public market.

Scratchit™ has been an integral part of Bobby’s life. Last year, he was able to acquire a passenger jeepney to help out his brother who was in dire need of a job. The future is bright with prospects and plans for Bobby such as a house & lot for his family next year. That’s Bobby for you – slow and steady with eyes firmly on the prize.

Based in Valenzuela, Rogelio started out just like everyone with 1 Lotto outlet. He didn’t just bank on that however, as he recognized the potential in selling other PCSO products like Scratchit™ instant tickets and Keno. He said that selling Scratchit™ tickets makes perfect business sense as it takes care of his lotto outlet’s overhead and more importantly, the product sells itself. At the end of the day, it’s all about maximizing profit.

It is with his extra income from selling Scratchit™, that Rogelio was able to grow his business, setting up new Lotto outlets. At the start, Lotto was just supplemental income for him and his family. But now, it is his main source of livelihood.

So what is the secret to his success? Rogelio is steadfast in saying that there are no shortcuts to success, only hard work and faith in the product that you’re selling. In fact, it was Rogelio’s own initiative to display copies of winning tickets in each of his outlets so that the customers become aware that there are a lot of winners with Scratchit™. He continues to attract loyal patrons to his outlets as he makes it a point to carry a complete line up of all Scratchit™ game variants and ensures all game variants are in-stock. Moreover, he fills up his outlets’ windows with a waterfall display of all his ticket game variants so that every customer can see and pick their favorites: Go Bananas or the fast rising star Cash Extravaganza.

For the future, Rogelio aims to open a store dedicated solely to selling Scratchit™ tickets. He foresees that the market for instant games is bright and that there is tremendous room for growth. Having achieved the top seller award in the whole of Luzon for the year 2010, Rogelio is indeed a living example of how hard work can go the distance.

Lotto owners shouldn’t be constrained to offering just Lotto when they could be making so much more. Betty makes it a point to try out everything that the PCSO has to offer because for one, she believes that they all have their market and more importantly, it’s for charity. She goes on further to state that nowadays, it isn’t feasible anymore to just rely on Lotto alone. Given the rising cost of electricity and manpower, limiting yourself to one product just isn’t good business. When she first started offering Scratchit™ instant tickets, she immediately saw the potential in the product. There is also a larger profit margin for retailers for Scratchit™, which offers a 10% commission as opposed to Lotto’s 5%. With this in mind, Betty’s earnings from instant tickets is almost at the same level as her Lotto commissions and that’s saying a lot!

What are best business practices for Betty? For Scratchit™ instant tickets, Betty declares that it’s all about trust. Trust towards her people, and trust in the recommendations Scratchit™ representatives give her. Betty’s business was already doing well but through marketing efforts and a site makeover, she has more than doubled her income in instant tickets! This increase in sales underscores the importance of displaying tickets, and always having stock on hand so that customers always have a variety of choices to suit their playing style.

What’s in store for Betty Liao in the future? She sets her sights on being the top Scratchit™ retailer in the country. She tells us that her main competitor isn’t the other Lotto outlets around her but rather herself. It is this work ethic of striving for the best that differentiates her from the others and what would ultimately take her to the top. Judging by how well she is doing right now, that dream isn’t too far away.

One of Cavite’s top selling Lotto and Scratchit™ retailers, Ms. Adora Mercado, took this leap of faith. Adora used to work in the pharmaceutical industry but she eventually decided that she wanted to take things to another level and start a business of her own. Opportunity knocked and in 1996, she opened her first Lotto outlet.

Her Lotto outlet earned a steady stream of income but it was when she started carrying Scratchit™ instant tickets that she began living the dream. The demand for scratch tickets caught on like wildfire and before she knew it, she was already operating five successful PCSO Lotto outlets all of which are successfully selling Scratchit™ Instant Tama Tickets. Adora reasons that it would have been hard to open new outlets without the extra income she earned from selling Scratchit™ Instant Tama Tickets.

From an entrepreneurial standpoint, selling instant tickets make sense: it takes little space, it sells itself and it is a quick way to earn extra revenue for an existing business. In fact, you don’t even need to be a Lotto outlet owner to sell Scratchit™ Instant Tama Tickets.

Scratchit™ has influenced Adora’s sales so much that her new outlets are designed to be conducive in selling tickets. Her window space is peppered with every conceivable ticket variant in every possible color, which immediately greets you and draws you in. This is also one factor that Adora attributes to her success. She makes sure that she has all of the ticket variants on stock so that her customers will always be able to buy their favorite games, whether it be the crowd pleaser “Go Bananas” or the fast rising star “Cash Extravaganza”.

To date, Adora has already surpassed her instant tickets sales from last year, which needless to say, amount to millions. She remains grounded though, as she gamely tells us of her plans of expanding and opening other outlets in the future. For now, she spends her time overseeing her thriving business, proving just how far a leap of faith can take you.

You too can be a Scratchit™ super retailer like Adora. Interested Metro Manila retailers can call the Scratchit™ hotline at 0917-3213583 or the PCSO Sales Department at (02)740-0253. Provincial Dretailers can call the PCSO Provincial District Office nearest you.

Welcome to the Lotto outlet owned by Lucio de Castro or Ka Lucio as he wants to be known. This is where the bettors go out of their way just to play at what is widely regarded as Manila’s “luckiest” lotto outlet.

You have probably seen the lines on TV. Whenever the jackpot is big, news crews troop to Ka Lucio’s outlet to capture the manic frenzy of people hoping to make it big. Come to think of it, on any given day, the lines are long and the store is filled to the brim. One can’t help but wonder: why is Lucio’s Lotto outlet this successful? From the outside, Ka Lucio’s store looks like any other Lotto outlet. Inside though, is a whole different story altogether. Upon entering the store, you are immediately greeted with seemingly endless rows of colorful Scratchit™ instant tickets. Posters calling out potential winners pepper the walls.

Don’t loiter too long though, as dozens of bettors are lined up on one side while other customers are hunched over his counters, furiously scratching instant tickets by the handful!

This is one of the secrets of Ka Lucio’s success! An additional easy revenue source that other outlet owners may be missing out on. One of the myths about Lotto that he is quick to debunk is that you can live off the revenue from Lotto alone. You might think that once you open a Lotto outlet, you’re assured of a steady stream of income but it simply does not work that way. At least not if you want to earn millions. The secret, Lucio tells us, is offering other PCSO products, like Scratchit™ tickets and Keno, combined with proper merchandising.

The Proof lies in numbers.

In 2009, Ka Lucio sold over P6 Million in Scratchit™ instant tickets from his humble Lotto outlet. This year, he is on track to sell twice as much, an amount he believes can reach up to P15 Million pesos before 2010 is over! He goes on further to say that so far, Scratchit™ sales make 40% of his income with the rest in online Lotto. Just do the math on how much extra income he is making out of these tickets. Some loyal customers don’t even play Lotto anymore and just go to him to buy instant scratch games.

At the end of the day, Lucio is as ordinary as the rest of us. It’s his vision and drive for excellence, which make him extraordinary.

You too can be a Scratchit™ super retailer like Ka Lucio. Interested Metro Manila outlets can either visit the PCSO Sales Department at (02)740-0253. or call the Scratchit™ hotline at 0917-3213583. Provincial Dealers can call the nearest PCSO Provincial District Office nearest you.