Two lottery players recently won NT$1 million (US$31,822) prizes on scratch lotto tickets they purchased on the same day at the same store in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area.
Taiwan Lottery Co said that the lotto wins both happened on “20 million Super Red Envelope” (2,000萬超級紅包) scratch cards sold at a shop on Kunming Street on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday on Thursday last week.
The first of the winners was a married couple, who first won NT$2,000 on a NT$300 scratch lotto card, and then used their winnings to buy a NT$2,000 Super Red Envelope.
Photo: CNA
After noticing that there were seven “lucky cats” (招財貓) in the store, the couple initially tried to buy a card with a code number ending in seven.
When the shopkeeper said they did not have any cards ending in seven, the couple selected a card that was seventh from the start in the display case, and ended up winning a NT$1 million prize, Taiwan Lottery said.
On the same day, a second NT$1 million prize was won at the store by two young men who put their money together to purchase a Super Red Envelope card.
The pair were so happy with their win that they treated everyone in the shop to bubble milk tea, the company added.
Among other recent lottery winners was a middle-aged man in Kaohsiung’s Sanmin District (三民), Taiwan Lottery said in a statement on Saturday.
An employee in the shop, surnamed Cheng (鄭), said the man asked for a single Super Red Envelope ticket with a code ending in 17, which ended up being a NT$1 million prize winner.
Out of curiosity, Cheng said she asked the man how he had selected the winning card, to which he replied that he was a big Shohei Ohtani fan, and always chose lottery tickets with a code ending in 17 in honor of the Japanese baseball star’s jersey number.
In another statement on Tuesday, Taiwan Lottery shared the story of five college students in Pingtung City, who each purchased one Super Red Envelope ticket and agreed to share any money they won.
After praying to a Buddha statue in the shop, the students scratched their cards, when one of them said calmly: “I seem to have hit the jackpot,” the lottery company said, citing an account from the owner of the shop near Pingtung County Stadium.
Upon hearing him, the four other students rushed over and confirmed that their friend had won a NT$1 million prize, the company said, adding that the students immediately bought candy for everyone in the store to “spread the joy” after their big win.
Taiwan Lottery released five new scratch cards for the Year of the Dragon, of which the NT$2,000 Super Red Envelope — with eight top prizes of NT$20 million — is the most expensive.
About 69 percent of Super Red Envelope tickets have a prize of at least NT$1,000, while the odds of winning a prize greater than NT$2,000 (from NT$5,000 to NT$20 million) are 10.3 percent, the company said.
Aside from the NT$20 million top prizes, there are 10 second prizes of NT$2 million plus a Mercedes-Benz GLA180 sports utility vehicle 2024 edition, and 1,000 third prizes valued at NT$1 million each, out of nearly 10 million cards issued.
Taiwan Lottery’s five special Lunar New Year scratch cards are on sale from Jan. 16 to July 16.
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