Thiruvananthapuram, 26 Sept (H.S.): The draw for Kerala’s Thiruvonam bumper lottery, offering a record ₹30 crore first prize, will be held at 2 pm on Saturday. Health Minister K. Muraleedharan will conduct the draw.

The lottery department says all 90 lakh tickets printed for this year’s bumper have been sold through its distribution network, compared with 75 lakh tickets distributed last year. Palakkad leads sales, accounting for 20 lakh tickets.

Some tickets are still available at lottery shops. While the department has no stock left, retailers are expected to sell the tickets they purchased from wholesale agents and the department before the draw. Each ticket costs ₹500. At that price, the 90 lakh tickets represent sales worth ₹450 crore across the distribution network.

The ₹30 crore top prize is the highest first prize offered in the Onam bumper lottery. Twenty ticket holders will receive ₹1 crore each as the second prize, while another 20 will receive ₹25 lakh each as the third prize.

The fourth prize of ₹5 lakh will go to 10 winners, and the fifth prize of ₹2 lakh will also go to 10 winners. The draw includes numerous smaller prizes of ₹5,000, ₹2,000, ₹1,000 and ₹500.

The scale of ticket distribution and the increase in the top prize have made this year’s draw a major event for buyers and sellers alike. With the department’s entire printed stock taken up, the remaining sales depend on tickets already held by retailers.

Ticket holders should check their numbers against the official result after the draw and keep their tickets safe if they win. The lottery department’s final figures for tickets sold to the public will become clearer once retailers account for any stock left unsold.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman