Lottery winner accuses granddaughter of stealing jackpot tickets
A 93 year old lottery winner accused her granddaughter of stealing her winning lottery tickets worth 12 million baht. The accused woman denied all allegations.
The alleged lottery winner, Jee Chaowangyen, filed a complaint with Nong Prue Police Station in the central province of Kanchanaburi that her granddaughter, 53 year old Saengthong Sri-atcha, stole two winning lottery tickets worth 12 million baht from her.
During an interview with several news agencies, Saengthong tried to prove her innocence to the journalists. She swore to a spirit house in front of her accommodation that she did not steal lottery tickets from Jee.
Saengthong explained that Jee visited her at 5pm on May 2 and asked her to help verify the result of three lottery tickets. The lottery numbers on the three tickets ended with 599 and 609 which did not win any prizes.
Saengthong claimed that she checked only the three-digit prize and did not check the jackpot prize because she did not know how to check. Then, she returned the three tickets to Jee. However, Jee came back to her house three days later and accused her of stealing her jackpot prizes, leading to ongoing arguments between the families.
Saengthong continued explaining that Jee kept coming to her house and accusing her. Many locals in the community also kept asking her about the issue which made her feel uncomfortable.
Jee told a different story to the media. She said she bought seven lottery tickets but found herself with five tickets that failed to secure any prizes. She was certain that Saengthng stole the two winning tickets from her. She was confident that she won the jackpot because she had written down the numbers that she bought and they matched with the winning numbers.
The Superintendent of the Nong Prue Police Station, Sorrawit Buaklin, reported that one of his officers has launched an investigation into the issue. Saengthong, Jee and others related to the case were questioned. Saengthong’s bank account would be investigated to prove her claims of innocence.
According to Sorrawith, officers have sought the cooperation of the Government Lottery Office to shed further light on the situation.
This is not the first time that a jackpot win has sparked controversy among Thai lottery enthusiasts. The biggest and most famous case was the issue between a Thai police officer named Jaroon Wimoon and a Thai teacher named Preecha Kraikuan.
The conflict erupted after Jaroon had five winning jackpot tickets worth 30 million baht. The teacher, Preecha, filed a complaint against Jaroom claiming he stole his lottery tickets. The case dragged on for five years before the court eventually declared Jaroon the rightful owner of the jackpot.
Another notable case emerged in the Isaan province of Roi Et, where a Thai man complained to his wife, alleging that she had fled home with his winning lottery ticket worth 6 million baht. The story ended when the wife returned the winning ticket to her husband and insisted on a divorce.
