A day after Kerala government unveiled the results for the highly-anticipated Onam bumper lottery, boasting an unprecedented prize of Rs 25 crore, Natarajan, a resident of Coimbatore, emerged as this year's fortunate winner. Hailing from Annur in Coimbatore, Natarajan purchased ten lottery tickets, each valued at Rs 500, from the Bava Lottery Agency located in Walayar. He purchased these tickets just four days prior to the announcement of the winner.
After the draw at the Gorky Bhavan on Wednesday, the department declared the winner which made it clear that the ticket was sold by a lottery agency in northern Kozhikode.
As a large number of people started to gather in front of the tiny shop, the owner of the shop said that the ticket was sold in Palakkad branch days ago.
In a first in the history of state lotteries, a whopping Rs 25 crore has been announced as the first prize for the winner. The second prize winners will get Rs 1 crore each and Rs 50 lakh will be awarded to third prize winners.
As many as 10 people will receive Rs 5 lakh each as the fourth prize.
Each Onam bumper ticket costs Rs 500.
Overall, 75 lakh tickets were sold till Tuesday evening, which was also a record in the state, according to unofficial figures.
In Palakkad district alone, over two lakh tickets were sold. The second-highest number of bumper tickets was sold at Thrissur.
Over Rs 46.30 crore went to Kerala government from Palakkad district, reported Asianet.
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Kerala State Lotteries, which was established in 1967, are run by the Kerala government. Prior to this, the Vishu Bumper winners were declared by the Kerala lottery department to celebrate the start of the new year according to the Malayalam calendar. The winner of the first prize in the Vishu Bumper BR-91 lottery ticket number VE 475588 received a total of Rs 12 crore.