Man in Thailand spends $15k buying 4,580 lottery tickets, walks away with $370k winnings

Go big, or go home.

A man in Thailand raked in winnings of about 9.1 million baht (S$373,000) by correctly betting on the two digit winning number for the Jan 17 draw.

A viral Facebook post by user "Ms Mongkol Jaithong" on the same day claimed that the punter had bought about 4,580 lottery tickets.

While one ticket costs 80 baht, most vendors charge 90 or 100 baht, meaning that the man would have spent at least 366,400 baht in total, reports said.

Photographs accompanying the Facebook post showed piles of tickets bearing different six-digit number combinations, all of which purportedly ends with "0 2".

In addition to the major jackpot prizes, Thailand's lottery awards smaller prize sums of 4,000 baht for a separate three-digit unit number draw.

For matching the winning two digits of the two digit number draw, one would win 2,000 baht — as is the case of the man.

The Bangkok Post reported that the man had similarly won three million baht on Jan 2 after correctly staking a guess on the two winning digits of "1 6".

Netizens reacted with both amazement and disbelief, with some questioning the authenticity of the tickets and even asking if it was a money laundering scheme.

Another Facebook user named Plenglom Rarinfan, claiming to be from the same hometown as the punter, clarified that the man owns a coconut processing facility and is known around the area.

She shot down talk of money laundering and explained that the man is well-to-do and likes buying lottery numbers, specifically focusing on his favourite numbers.

"As for where he obtained the numbers, you'll have to ask him yourself," she added.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com