Short answer. Yes. Article 196 of the Revised Penal Code states that the possession of any lottery ticket or advertisement shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to sell, distribute, or use it in the Philippines. The burden falls on the possessor to rebut this presumption.
What the law says
The possession of any lottery ticket or advertisement shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to sell, distribute or use the same in the Philippine Islands.
Revised Penal Code, Article 196 — Importing Lottery Tickets. Read the full provision →
What Article 196 says about possession
Article 196 of the Revised Penal Code covers the importation, sale, and possession of foreign lottery tickets or advertisements. Its final sentence creates a presumption: the possession of any lottery ticket or advertisement shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to sell, distribute or use the same. This is a legal presumption — it means possession alone, if proven, is enough to establish intent without further proof. The possessor can rebut the presumption, but the burden shifts to them once possession is established.
Three tiers of liability in the article
The article creates different levels of liability depending on the act. Importing foreign lottery tickets or advertisements, or selling or distributing them in connivance with the importer, carries the heaviest penalty. Possessing lottery tickets knowingly and with intent to use them, or selling or distributing them without connivance with the importer, carries a lighter penalty. In both tracks, the penalties in the original text — arresto and fines expressed in pesos — have not been updated by RA 10951 as comprehensively for this article, so the amounts from the text above are those the statute prints. Consulting the current text directly is advisable.
What 'prima facie evidence' means in practice
A prima facie presumption means that evidence of possession is sufficient to raise the inference of the presumed fact — here, intent to sell, distribute, or use. If the prosecution proves you had the ticket, the court may presume you intended to use it in the Philippines, without the prosecution having to prove intent separately. This does not make a conviction automatic — the possessor can introduce evidence to explain the possession and overcome the presumption. But the starting position is unfavorable to the possessor: silence or a bare denial is unlikely to suffice.
Context: foreign lotteries and Philippine law
This article targets tickets and advertisements for foreign lotteries — lotteries operated outside the Philippines. The concern at the time the Code was drafted was the importation of foreign gambling schemes into the Philippines in competition with government-authorized gambling or in violation of public policy. The article applies to the physical ticket or advertisement, not to online lottery participation, which involves different regulatory questions. If you found a foreign lottery ticket in your possession or received one, understanding the applicable rules — and what rebuttal evidence might apply — is worth discussing with a lawyer.