Lotto-luck chase: Thai man on wild hunt for lost lottery ticket after jackpot surprise months later

A Thai man embarked on a frantic search for a lost Thai lottery ticket after belatedly discovering he’d scooped one of the top prizes some nine months after the draw was made.

The lottery winner, 29 year old Yotsakorn Sangteerathiti, revealed to Channel 3 that he bought a government lottery ticket for the upcoming draw tomorrow, via the Pao Tang application, on November 27. Upon accessing the app, it promptly notified him that he had secured the fifth lottery prize amounting to 20,000 baht on February 16 of this year. The ticket number in question was 441788.

The Pao Tang application used to offer a lottery ticket storage feature which allowed users who bought physical tickets from each shop to save their tickets electronically online in case they lost their hard copy. Users only needed to scan a QR code on the physical ticket, and it would appear on the application.

However, the feature had been removed. People who bought physical tickets had to keep them safe in order to claim the prize if they won. If not, they were unable to claim the prize.

Yotsakorn explained that he bought the winning lottery ticket in February when the application feature was still available. The winning lottery ticket was shown in the application but now he can’t claim the money because he lost his ticket.

Yotsakorn disclosed that he could not remember where he bought the ticket. He thought it was either Chiang Mai or Khon Kaen in February. He bought the numbers because 88 was the age of his grandfather before he passed away.

Yotsakorn said he frequently bought lottery tickets but rarely checked them because he was busy with work. So far, his attempts to find the winning ticket have been fruitless.

Yotsakorn contacted the Government Lottery Office (GLO) to resolve the issue. The GLO suggested he file a complaint with the police and submit the complaint document from the police to the GLO. The relevant departments would conduct further investigations on whether he could access the prize or not.

Yotsakorn added that he hoped the soul of his grandfather would help him successfully find the ticket and gain the prize.

There has been no update on whether Yotsakorn’s search for his lost ticket proved to be successful before the story went to press. Fingers crossed for the lottery buff.