Thai lottery winner hits jackpot with 4,500 tickets

The Thai internet has been abuzz this week with the extraordinary story of an elderly man hitting the government lottery jackpot, with total winnings exceeding 9.1 million baht, The Bangkok Post reports.

The kicker is that his winnings came entirely from matching the last two digits — 02 — in the Jan 17 draw. 

According to a Facebook user identified as “Ms Mongkol Jaithong”, the winner had purchased 4,580 lottery tickets through a combination of online platforms and traditional vendors, at an initial cost of approximately 400,000 baht.

As it turned out, nearly all of the tickets matched the last two-digit prize, resulting in winnings of around 9.1 million baht.

The post was accompanied by a photo showing the winner checking stacks of lottery tickets, all ending in 02. The caption read: “Recently purchased lottery tickets from both online and from regular vendors, totalling 4,580 tickets. The buyer almost had a heart attack.”

But this was not the winner’s first big score. On Jan 2, he got lucky with the number 16, holding 1,500 winning tickets and receiving a prize of 3 million baht.

The post quickly drew widespread attention online, with many users expressing disbelief — and some asking what two numbers the winner has in mind for the next draw.