An illiterate, slum-dwelling Philippine carpenter who was too poor to send his six children to school became an instant millionaire Thursday with the country's second biggest-ever lottery win. The 60-year-old collected a 356.5-million-peso (eight-million-dollar) cheque from a single 20-peso ticket, which was all he could afford, said an aide to Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Jose Ferdinand Roxas.
"He plans to buy a house because he and his family had never owned a proper home all their lives," said the Roxas aide, who declined to be identified. Roxas, who handed over the cheque Thursday on behalf of the state lottery agency, could not be reached for comment. The staff member told AFP the unnamed man's winnings were the second biggest ever for the state lottery, a popular pastime in a country where one in four people live on a dollar a day or less. In December the lottery paid out a record 741 million pesos to a 63-year-old US-based Filipino man who had bought the winning ticket while vacationing in the Philippines.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.