The keenly awaited ₹25-crore first prize of the Thiruvonam Bumper lottery in Kerala has gone to ticket number TE 230662. The ticket was reportedly sold by a sub-agent of Bava Lottery Agency, Palayam, Kozhikode, at Walayar in Palakkad.
At the time of filing this report, efforts were on to trace the winner. The State Lotteries department, which operates the Thiruvonam Bumper, said the winner had not contacted it yet.
The lottery agency had sourced the ticket from the Kozhikode office of the Lotteries department on September 11. According to the agency, the ticket was sold the same day by its sub-agent at Walayar. The second prize carries ₹1 crore each to 20 winners. The third prize promises ₹50 lakh each to 20 winners.
Record sale
The Lotteries department had printed 85 lakh tickets this year. Of this, 75,76,096 tickets were sold, which is a record for the department. To compare, the department had printed 67.5 lakh Thiruvonam Bumper tickets in 2022, of which 66,55,914 were sold, a record back then.
It was last year that the department had increased the prize money for this lottery from ₹12 crore to ₹25 crore. The ticket was priced at ₹500.
‘More will benefit’
This year, the department revamped the prize structure so as to make the lottery more attractive to buyers. Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, who inaugurated the draw in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, said the prize structure was changed so that more people benefited from the lottery. Transport Minister Antony Raju was present at the draw.
Last year, the bumper was won by Anoop B. of Thiruvananthapuram, who was subsequently mobbed by people for help. This year, the department had launched a training programme on money management for lottery winners.
It was in 1967 that the Kerala government established a department for the conduct of paper lotteries. The very first lottery ticket cost ₹1 and carried a first prize of ₹50,000.
