Elderly man in Lampang loses winning lottery ticket

A 74 year old man in Lampang found himself at the centre of a lottery ticket dispute after discovering his winning ticket was missing. Later, the ticket was found torn into pieces, raising questions about its authenticity.

A reporter visited a home in Serm Sai Subdistrict, Serm Ngam District, Lampang Province, yesterday, July 3, following reports of a lottery ticket dispute. The incident involved a 74 year old man who had won a secondary prize in the lottery, worth 100,000 baht.

The elderly man, named Ai, from Serm Ngam District, Lampang, shared that he is bedridden with pressure sores. Before the lottery draw, a vendor sold him a ticket at his cattle pen. On the draw date, Ai watched the results on television and realised his ticket number 434504 was just one digit off the grand prize. He immediately informed his daughter.

Subsequently, a woman who regularly tended to his pressure sores visited. Ai mentioned his near-win to her, and she asked to see the ticket. After finishing her work, she left. Ai later could not find the ticket and called her, but she claimed she had crumpled it up and thrown it in the rubbish. She promised to look for it the next day.

Ai expressed his distress over the situation, having not won a significant amount of money in a long time.

Meanwhile, Ai’s daughter, 50 year old Naraphat explained that after her father informed her about the ticket missing the grand prize by a single digit, they rushed to his house. Upon inquiring about the ticket, Ai said his helper had taken it.

Vanished into thin air

The helper initially denied taking the ticket, stating she had discarded it in a rubbish bag. They searched through every bag but found nothing. Naraphat warned the woman that she would report the incident to the police by noon if the ticket was not found. Eventually, the woman claimed she found the ticket in a rubbish bag but it was torn into small pieces. Naraphat was sceptical, noting that no one would be foolish enough to tear up a winning ticket.

They gathered the ticket fragments and reported the incident to the Serm Ngam Police Station. However, when the police pieced the ticket together, it turned out to be from a different series and not the winning one. Naraphat expressed her frustration, saying it was baffling to lose a winning ticket.

The lottery vendor later provided photos of the ticket in her stall to the reporter, confirming she had sold it to Ai. She recalled that Ai had picked the ticket while facing away, and she handed it to him personally, reported Sanook.