Friday, March 29, 2024

Business

How a Punjab Lottery Winner Almost Losing ₹2 Crore Suggests Online Lottery is Way Better

PUNJAB NEWS EXPRESS | February 21, 2022 07:20 PM

What happens when Lady Luck smiles upon you but you choose to look the other way? Not much. You simply miss out on good opportunities - the ones that don’t come every day!

Something like this was about to happen to a police constable in Punjab who won ₹2 Crore in the New Year Lohri Bumper draw of the Punjab State Lottery.

In August 2019, Ashok Kumar, a 30-year-old constable with the Punjab Police found out he had bagged that incredible prize money and became a millionaire overnight. However, to his utter dismay, he was unable to find his winning ticket for quite a long time.

Kumar, who is a resident of Motian village of Hoshiarpur, was in a state of surprise and shock at the same time. Never in his life had he imagined he would win the lottery, let alone scoop such a grand prize.

But at the same time, he was disheartened because his ticket was missing and he would possibly be unable to seize the opportunity to rake in all that moolah.

Indeed, it could have been a near miss for Mr. Kumar, who would have regretted it for the rest of his life. Now, Indian lotto players who take a special interest in playing government lotteries would know producing the winning ticket is a must if you need to claim the prize.

Luckily for Ashok Kumar, he eventually found his ticket just on time and claimed his winnings. But, here’s some food for thought for Indian lottery players: if you think about it from another point of view, paper lotteries in India have always had this disadvantage.

Who knows how many winners have had the ill-luck of missing out on big wins only because they could not find their winning ticket on time?

Perhaps this is why more and more players are now resorting to playing the lottery online instead. India doesn’t have an online lottery yet, so the likes of the US Powerball, EuroMillions, Mega Millions, EuroJackpot, and Mega-Sena are gaining popularity.

Thanks to international lottery sites, it is now easier to participate in these draws. You can either buy an official ticket via lottery concierge services or bet on the outcome. In the former case, you would be sent a digital copy of the ticket so you don’t have to worry about losing it.

In the latter case, you won’t the official draw but use a betting site to wager on the outcome. The prizes would be matched to those of the original draw and paid out via a third-party insurance company.

Either way, it’s a win-win because you don’t have to guard your ticket 24/7. It is safe in your lottery account on the website and accessible whenever you want. The best part is the size of the prizes, especially the jackpot - which are always bigger and better than those offered by Indian State lotteries.

Of course, Ashok Kumar’s story is an inspiring one. As the State Lottery Department has stated, his win is now inspiring many players to buy tickets and chase millionaire dreams. But we still can’t ignore the fact that his success was almost a failure.

Why prepare for a narrow squeak when you can win like a boss?

Have something to say? Post your comment