Thailand lottery player bags 114 million baht with 19 winning tickets

“Lucky” is an understatement for the anonymous Thai national who bought 19 winning tickets for Thailand’s national lottery draw yesterday. The newfound millionaire won 114 million baht (US$3.3 million) in total.

Yesterday afternoon, the winning numbers 984906 were drawn in Thailand’s national lottery draw. Anyone with a digital or printed lottery ticket dated April 16 with the said numbers wins the first prize of 6 million baht.

Director of the Government Lottery Office (GLO), Lt. Col. Noon Sansanakhom, said that 18.78 million lottery tickets were sold through Thailand’s digital lottery app Paotang for yesterday’s draw.

One digital player bought 19 identical tickets with the number 984906, the director revealed yesterday. It’s not clear whether the prize has yet been claimed or not. Whoever bought 19 winning tickets has remained anonymous so far.

After the last lottery draw, the GLO announced that they would stop paying out prizes with cash with immediate effect. If the winner’s prize exceeds 2 million baht, the GLO will transfer the money only to a Government Savings Bank account or an account with the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).

Alternatively, winners can receive a check from the Krung Thai Bank’s GLO branch office or claim their prize at any Government Savings Bank, Krung Thai Bank, or BAAC Bank branch in the country. Foreign winners without Thai bank accounts may still receive their winnings in cash.

A 66 year old man from Samut Prakan province, Thanaphon Thongchaiya, was overjoyed when he realised he won the lottery yesterday. He bought seven tickets with the final digits ending in 71, winning 2000 baht for each ticket, or 14,000 baht.

However, when Thanaphon went to claim his winnings, he was informed that only two of the tickets were real, reducing his prize to 4,000 baht. Five of the tickets were reused from the lottery draw on April 1 but sold to Thanaphon as entries for the latest draw.

Two weeks ago, a lucky lotto winner in Bangkok got drunk, climbed a tree and fell asleep tangled up in Bangkok’s haphazard overhead cables. He was asleep for so long that passersby thought he was dead, but he was fine.