Lottery Numbers Magically Appear On Government Vehicle License Plates

Thai caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra leaves a cabinet meeting in Bangkok. Photo: The Star

Coincidence, or tampering? This was the question raised by Thai anti-goverment groups about the winning numbers in Sunday's Thailand lottery draw. They say the numbers appear to have been taken directly from the license plates of two government vehicles.

The Bangkok Post said that the last three digits of Sunday's first prize lottery - number 531404 - matched the 5404 licence plate number of the Volkswagen mini-van used by caretaker prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Chiang Mai last weekend. 

And the winning two digit number on Sunday was 79, which also matched the last two digits of her Toyota Alphard’s licence plate with the number 7879. 

But Government Lottery Office director-general Attagrit Tharechat insisted everything was above board. He said no one had tampered with the equipment. 

"The matching of the winning numbers with the premier's licence plates was a coincidence," he said. 

In a curious twist, pictures of the licence plates of the two mini-vans were widely posted on social media beforehand, urging people to buy both government and underground lottery tickets with those two numbers... 404 and 79.

Read more: Bangkok Post

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