“Won 2.1 Billion Won, but a Little Disappointed” ... Office Worker’s Remark After Buying Pension Lottery With Spare Change

[Financial News] An office worker who usually bought only Lotto tickets struck it lucky, winning both first and second prize with a Pension Lottery ticket bought with leftover change on just the second time they had ever bought one. The total prize is a hefty sum of more than 2.1 billion won, but the winner drew attention by saying they were “a little disappointed” in their remarks about the win.

On the 13th, lottery consignment operator Donghaeng Lottery said that the story of office worker A, who won one first-prize ticket and four second-prize tickets in draw 340 of “Pension Lottery 720+,” bought at a lottery retailer in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, was posted on its official website.
A, who had generally bought only Lotto tickets, recently became curious after seeing a colleague at work buy a Pension Lottery ticket. Then, as usual, A bought Lotto tickets and used the leftover money to buy an additional set of Pension Lottery tickets (five tickets). This was only the second time in A’s life that they had bought a Pension Lottery ticket.
The process of checking the win was nerve-racking, like a scene from a drama. While talking about lottery tickets with a colleague during a break at work, A decided to check together whether they had won. But when A opened their wallet, there was just one ticket from the set of five they had bought. The colleague first checked the numbers on that one ticket using a mobile phone, and, to their surprise, confirmed that it had won second prize.
When a set of Pension Lottery tickets is purchased, tickets are issued with the same numbers across groups 1 through 5, so there was a very high chance that one of the remaining four tickets would be a first-prize winner. The colleague urgently asked, “Where are the other four?” and joined A in searching for them. A suddenly remembered having put the other four tickets in the car because they had made the wallet too bulky. A rushed to the car and safely found the remaining tickets. After checking their numbers, it was finally confirmed that all five tickets had won: one first-prize ticket and three more second-prize tickets.
Even in the face of this unexpected windfall, A seemed more composed than one might expect. In an interview with the winner, A opened up, saying, “I was actually more puzzled, wondering, ‘Why has such great fortune come my way?’” and “I’d been going through difficult days in many ways amid the recent economic downturn, but this win has been a great comfort and given me hope to find the strength to carry on.”
Asked how A planned to use the prize money, A gave a practical answer, saying, “I’ll use it first to pay off my loans.” However, in the handwritten comments section left for Donghaeng Lottery, A wrote the cryptic line, “I’m really happy, but a little disappointed,” prompting curiosity. A did not specify what, exactly, was disappointing.
The first prize in Pension Lottery 720+ is paid as an annuity of 7 million won per month for 20 years, while the second prize is paid as 1 million won per month for 10 years. If, like A, a person buys one set and wins one first-prize ticket and four second-prize tickets, they receive 11 million won per month before taxes (about 8.58 million won after taxes) for the first 10 years, followed by 7 million won per month (about 5.46 million won after taxes) for the next 10 years. The total prize paid over 20 years amounts to 2.16 billion won before taxes.

[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter