VietNamNet Bridge – Pham Thi Lanh, a lottery seller in the southern province of Long An, gave back 10 lottery tickets which win top prizes worth VND6.6 billion ($330,000) to a man who bought the tickets on the nod.
Lanh promised to sell 20 lottery tickets on credit to a man named Do Ngoc Tuan, but Tuan did not receive the tickets yet. Finally, ten of the 20 tickets won prizes, including four with the top prizes, totaling VND6.6 billion (around $330,000). Lanh did not keep the winning tickets but gave them back to Tuan.

This happened in mid-November but until now local people in Ben Luc town still mentioned it. They were very surprised because Lanh is extremely poor. Her family now lives in a hired house.

Tuan, the ticket buyer, is also very poor. He has been working as a tricycle driver for 25 years. Though Lanh only promised to sell 20 tickets worth VND200,000 ($10) in nod to Tuan, without receiving payment from Tuan nor giving the tickets to him, Lanh still gave the tickets back to Tuan, though she had known that these were winning tickets.
Tuan recalled: “I received a phone call from Lanh. I thought that she called to ask me pay for the lottery tickets. But it turned out that she informed me of the ten winning tickets.”

Tuan presented one top prize lottery ticket to Lanh, plus VND200,000 of debt. “I pay you the debt and present you one winning ticket…” Tuan said. All witnesses clapped their hands to congratulate two lucky poor persons.

Plus the ticket presented by Tuan, Lanh also had a winning ticket. She received VND3 billion ($150,000) in total. Lanh has bought a house with the money.

Tuan still works as a tricycle driver. “I’m still a worker. This is my job,” the lucky man said.

M. Chi