September 18, 2022 is a date that 30-year-old Anoop is never going to forget. An auto driver by profession, Anoop says he still hasn’t come to terms with the fact that he has just emerged as the winner of the much awaited Onam bumper lucky draw, which has fetched him a jackpot of Rs 25 crore. It was around 2 pm on Sunday that Kerala’s Finance Minister KN Balagopal selected the winner through a lucky draw function in Kerala’s capital of Thiruvananthapuram, which saw Anoop’s ticket number TJ-750605 emerging as the winner.
Within moments after the winning ticket number was announced, the search for the ticket owner began and it was found that the lottery ticket was purchased from an agency in Pazhavangadi in Thiruvananthapuram. And shortly after, the person who purchased the ticket was identified.
A native of Sreevaraham in Thiruvananthapuram, Anoop was swarmed by reporters. Speaking to them, an elated Anoop said that he didn’t really expect to win and he just bought a ticket like how he normally does. “At the moment, I don’t know what to say or what to do with the money. I’m just happy. Will think about what to do with it later on,” he told the media. Another interesting fact is that Anoop had just purchased the ticket around 7 pm on Saturday, on the eve of the result declaration.
Onam bumper lottery tickets, which offers the highest prize money, witnessed record sales this year, selling over 66.5 lakh tickets, as compared to 54 lakhs in 2021. Each ticket costs around Rs 500 and the agent which sell more than 1000 tickets will get a commission of Rs 99.69.
The second prize went to ticket number TG-270912, which was sold by an agency in Kottayam.
The Kerala government started the state lotteries programme in 1967. According to the Economic Review 2020 by the Kerala State Planning Board, revenue from lotteries constitutes 81.32% of the state's total non-tax revenue. In 2020, Kerala started selling 90 lakh lottery tickets per day.