The odds of winning South Korea’s lottery are astronomical – roughly one in 8 million. So when two jackpot-winning tickets were revealed to have come from the same unremarkable shop in the city of Siheung, whispers of fraud and government cover-ups began to ripple across the country.
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On Saturday, Donghaeng Lotto announced the results of its 1,161st draw: 16 ticket holders shared the jackpot, each pocketing nearly 1.8 billion won (US$1.23 million). But it was not the size of the prize or the number of winners that raised eyebrows.
Of the 16 winners, 10 had relied on the lottery’s automatic number-selection system – and two of those lucky tickets came from the same shop, the unassuming “Comprehensive Lottery Super” in Siheung, a 32km (20 miles) southwest of central Seoul.
Almost immediately, accusations of foul play flooded online forums. On the popular bulletin-board platform BobaeDream, an anonymous post demanding that the government explain “why two automatic lottery first-prize winners came from one place” went viral, racking up more than 99,500 views.
“Does this make sense mathematically and probabilistically?” asked the user, who described themselves as a music director. With a winning probability of less than one in 8 million, they argued, the coincidence was too much to ignore.
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