A lotto ticket retailer. [Newsis] (Photo unrelated to article.)
A lotto ticket retailer. [Newsis] (Photo unrelated to article.)

A cancer patient on the way to a chemotherapy appointment stopped to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket — and won the top prize, easing the financial burden of ongoing treatment.

According to Dong Haeng Lottery, the operator of Korea's lottery system, a first-prize winner of the Speetto 1000 No. 109 showing was confirmed at a ticket retailer on Wolgot Jungang-ro 70beon-gil in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. The prize is 500 million won ($368,000).

The winner, identified only as Mr. A, stopped at the lottery shop while heading to the hospital for chemotherapy and bought two Speetto 1000 tickets. He set them aside and checked them a few days later, when he discovered he had won.

"When I saw the lucky number come up, I thought at first I had won a small amount, but when I checked it turned out to be a first-prize win I never expected," he said. "I had lived with a positive mindset, believing that good fortune would come my way someday — but when it actually arrived, I felt surprisingly calm."

He added that the financial strain of ongoing chemotherapy had been considerable. "I'm truly grateful that this prize will be a great help with future treatment and my life in retirement," he said. "More than anything, the fact that I can continue treatment without having to ask my children for money is a source of great joy and relief."

Speetto 1000 is an instant scratch-off lottery in which players win a prize if any of six numbers on the ticket matches the lucky number. Each ticket costs 1,000 won, and the top prize is 500 million won.


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