Why Does No One in Kerala Want to Claim the Rs 8 Crore Lottery?

(Photo: The News Minute)

Rs 8 crore. That’s how much the Kerala government’s Onam lottery is worth. And yet, a week after the winning ticket was announced, inexplicably, no one has come forward to collect it. All the other prizes have been claimed.

It has been eight days since the government announced the lottery ticket results. The number TC 788368 won the prize money.

Even since the winner was announced, a man in Kayamkulam, Kollam district, has been cursing his bad luck. Vishal had bought a ticket of the same series from an agent named Santhosh in Thrissur.

I went to Thrissur for a friend’s wedding, that’s when I bought the ticket. I remember it was from the TC series because I asked the agent if ‘TC’ stands for Thrissur. I remembered that only when I recognised the agent when I saw him on TV.

Vishal

But he has no way of knowing whether that ticket was his, because he no longer has it. He had stuck the ticket into the cover of his old mobile case, and it ended up being burned along with trash disposed while cleaning the house.

“It was the same seller and same series, so it might have been mine. However, it is gone,” he says. The glaring no-show by the owner of the ticket has only deepened his suspicion.

While Vishal rues that his ticket — which possibly won the lottery — has been destroyed, a man in Thenjippalam is being harassed as his photo is being circulated on WhatsApp as the winner of prize money.