THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the second consecutive year, Lady Luck has smiled on an autorickshaw driver in the state. Anoop B, 32, a native of Sreevaraham, was declared winner of the Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery, which carries a jackpot of Rs 25 crore, in the lucky draw held in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. This is the biggest prize money announced by the Lotteries Department for Thiruvonam Bumper so far. P R Jayapalan, an autorickshaw driver from Kochi, had won last year’s jackpot of Rs 12 crore.
Anoop had bought the ticket (TJ 750605) from the Pazhavangady branch of Bhagavathy Agency in Attingal on Saturday, a day before the draw. He said winning the money has made him change his plans. “I was planning to go to Malaysia to work as a chef. Now, I plan to start a hotel. I also want to own a house near the road,” said Anoop. A regular lottery buyer since he was 22, Anoop never hit it big till now. “I keep aside some money just to buy lotteries. I plan on continuing the habit,” he said.
Anoop said the money will help him settle his debts. He had recently applied for a loan of Rs 3 lakh and the bank had approved it. On Sunday, he called them up and asked them not to proceed. Maya is his wife and the couple has a two-year-old son, Adwaid.
Kottayam agency ticket wins Rs 5crore
The second prize of Rs 5 crore went to the ticket (TG 270912) sold by Kottayam’s Meenakshi Agency. The third prize of Rs 1 crore each went to 10 tickets – TA 292922, TB 479040,TC 204579, TD 545669, TE 115479, TG 571986, TH 562506, TJ 384189, TK 395507 and TL 555868.
The department sold over 66.54 lakh tickets priced at Rs 500 each this year, netting over Rs 330 crore in revenue. Finance Minister K N Balagopal inaugurated the lucky draw at Goky Bhavan. He also presented the Pooja Bumper ticket to Transport Minister Antony Raju at the function.