2 Punjab Friends Hit Rs 1.5 Crore Lottery Jackpot After 14 Years

Two friends from Punjab's Abohar city have hit a jackpot, winning a lottery of Rs 1.5 crore. Joginder and his friend Ramesh Singh have together bought lottery tickets for the last 14 years. And it was their Sunday ticket, worth Rs 200 bought from a shop outside Ghantaghar, that turned them into overnight millionaires.

This isn't Mr Joginder and Mr Ramesh's first victory, though. After hitting the jackpot, Mr Joginder said that the best-friend duo previously won Rs 45,000 and once Rs 20,000 apart from smaller amounts. However, this was the first time when a handsome amount of Rs 1.5 crore came their way, he added.

Mr Joginder owns a small apparel shop and used to sell lottery tickets.

Outside the Gyan lottery centre in Ghantaghar from where Rs Joginder and Mr Ramesh bought the tickets, there were jubilant scenes. People lined up to get pictures clicked with the new millionaires of the town. Not just that, a man with a drum around his neck played it as the two friends distributed sweets.

Mr Ramesh said that his previous lottery wins were smaller but this one would help him get his kids settled in life. "I will use this money to set up some business for my sons," he said.

Established in 1968, the Directorate of Punjab State Lotteries is a wing of the Finance Department of the Punjab Government. On its website, the government says that the aim of the lotteries is to conduct and promote genuine and transparent schemes in compliance with the rules and regulations.