'Not destined for big money,' winner said — then hit pension lottery's 1st and 2nd prizes at once

A Seoul resident who rarely buys lottery tickets picked one up on a whim — and ended up winning both first and second prizes in the same draw.

According to Dong Haeng Lottery, a ticket shop on Sillim-ro in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, sold the winning tickets for the 329th drawing of Pension Lottery 720+, producing one first-prize winner and four second-prize winners from a single purchase.

The winner, identified only as A, visited the shop after watching a video online of someone scratching instant lottery tickets called Speetto.

"I bought five Speetto 1000 scratch tickets at the shop, and a set of pension lottery tickets caught my eye, so I picked those up too," A said.

Back home, A scratched all five Speetto tickets first — and won nothing. Reminded of just how hard it is to win, A set aside any expectations.

Then, on Thursday evening, A suddenly remembered the pension lottery tickets sitting untouched. Checking the results without much hope, A could hardly believe what was on the screen: one first-prize ticket and four second-prize tickets, all winners.

"I was so shocked and happy that it felt impossible," A said. "My fortune teller told me I was not the type to come into a large sum of money all at once, so I never expected a big win. Now I feel like I have used up all the luck in my life in one go."

A added that the night before confirming the win — on Tuesday — a dream about a war had come, and said the prize money would be saved toward buying a home.

The first prize in Pension Lottery 720+ pays 7 million won ($5,110) a month for 20 years, while second-prize winners receive 1 million won a month for 10 years, both paid out in annuity form. Holding one first-prize ticket and four second-prize tickets, A stands to collect a total of about 2.16 billion won over the payout periods.