A woman in Singapore displayed a great deal of honesty and integrity after she handed the police a winning lottery ticket she found in a temple.
The woman, identified as Chen Yiming, discovered the ticket on the floor of a temple in Singapore on February 3 hoping the ticket would be claimed by the actual owner.
Chen did not want to keep the money that did not belong to her, intending to return the winning ticket to the actual owner.
Shin Min Daily News reported that the hawker stall vendor was at the temple to watch a lion and dragon dance performance.
When she picked up the lottery ticket, she noticed it was bought on the same day for the lottery draw scheduled for Saturday (Feb 8) and Sunday (Feb 9).
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The lottery tickets were two sets of big/small bets at S$2 (approximately RM6.60) each, totaling S$16, with the numbers 3388 and 8833.
“I also buy lottery tickets myself, and I recognise that this group of ‘beautiful’ numbers had been drawn for the first prize a few days ago.
“Upon closer inspection, I found that it was an unopened ticket, so I paid special attention to it,” she was quoted as saying.
Chen believed that if the owner won the draw but could not find their lottery ticket, they would be “anxious”, as quoted.
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The actual owner was in luck despite not having the ticket because their number combinations hit the jackpot of up to S$10,000 (approximately RM33,036) on February 9.
A day later (Feb 10), she handed the winning lottery ticket to the police.
In Singapore, those who fraudulently claim a winning lottery ticket could face jail time, with the court deciding the sentence based on factors such as a prior criminal record and the amount claimed.
The maximum prison sentence for the offence is up to 10 years.
