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24-yr-old temple employee in Kerala wins ₹12-cr Onam lottery jackpot
Ananthu Vijayan, who is employed as a clerk in a temple in Ernakulam, brought the ticket TB 173964 from a lottery agent last month when the going was getting tough for the family.
A 24-year-old man from a poor family in Idukki district, hit the jackpot as he won the first prize of the Kerala Government’s Onam bumper lottery worth ₹12 crore.
Ananthu Vijayan, who is employed as a clerk in a temple in Ernakulam, brought the ticket TB 173964 from a lottery agent last month when the going was getting tough. The draw was held on Sunday evening and he came to know about it in the night.
“When I got a call I thought somebody was playing a prank with me. But when I checked the news I couldn’t believe it. On Sunday morning I had shared a joke with my friends saying the Onam bumper will change my fate. It proved right,” he said. Living with his parents and sister in a remote area in Idukki district he said he hit the jackpot at the right time. His sister, who was working as an accounting assistant, had lost her job during the Covid-19 pandemic and his father who is a painter, was also without any work for the last few months.
“My first priority is to shift from the present area and buy a small house somewhere near Ernakulam. I will start some small-time business with my father,” said Vijayan. He said he used to buy lottery tickets regularly and he once won ₹5,000. One ticket of the Onam bumper was priced at ₹300. The second prize of ₹one crore, was pocketed by six women, who pooled in ₹100 each to buy two tickets. All are workers of a self-help group.
Lottery and liquor are the main revenue earners of the state. Almost every day there is a lottery (usual price is ₹40) and there are 35,000 agents and 1.5 lakh retail sellers in the state. The annual revenue from the sale of tickets is between ₹10,000 core to 12,000 crore. The lottery sale was suspended for three months due to the pandemic.
