TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After an Indonesian spouse in New Taipei’s Banqiao District canceled her plans to visit family members in her hometown for Lunar New Year (LNY), she spent the money meant for plane tickets on scratch cards and won a NT$1 million (US$35,966.69) prize, Liberty Times reported.
The woman, a regular customer at the lottery store, was described by the store's owner Yan Tzu-yi (顏子宜) as thrifty; she would usually save money for flight tickets so that she can visit her family every year in Indonesia. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to spend this year’s Lunar New Year holiday back home — however, the woman said her disappointment of not being able to go back to her hometown has turned into joy, and that she planned to build a house for her family in Indonesia with the prize money.
She had taken her two children with her to a lottery store in Banqiao on Tuesday (Feb.3) to purchase a “20 Million Super Red Envelope” scratch card, which turned out to be a NT$1 million winning card, per Liberty Times. Yan said the woman had turned to the Maitreya Buddha in the store to worship and pray for good luck, and her prayers were answered instantly.
As the woman was leaving the store, she worshipped the Buddha again and promised to bring the smiling god candies, Yan added. She was cited as saying that she was happy that the woman’s dream of building a house for her family has come true.
