Money from the angels? Thai monk wins $700k in lottery, claims he bought ticket to help needy street vendors

Many enjoy fantasising about what they would buy if they won the lottery. 

And then, we have this monk, who gave away the bulk of his 18 million baht winnings ($730,000) to temples, various organisations and the needy. 

According to Thai news platform The Thaiger, the 47-year-old monk is from Wat Phra That Phanom Woramahawihan, a temple in the Nakhon Phanom province of Thailand. 

After finding out that he had won the money, he gave many of the needy local street vendors in the province around 200 baht each, and donated another 4 million baht to temples, schools, government agencies, and private institutions. 

A Facebook post also revealed that around 500,000 baht-worth of money and "merit bags" had been given out to people in That Phanom as well as other provinces.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/phrakhru.phnmprichakr/posts/4924815477612304[/embed]

Pictures circulating on social media showed that long queues had formed outside the temple. The crowd became so big that provincial officers had to step in and monitor the situation due to Covid-19. 

However, while all of this is rather heartwarming, there is an issue — monks are forbidden to gamble, and the monk himself is aware of it. 

He justifies his actions by saying that he had purchased the lottery tickets to help local vendors who were struggling financially due to the pandemic. 

The monk also adds that he believes the money belonged to the angels and he had never intended to keep the money for himself. 

This isn't the first time a monk has won the lottery either.

According to Coconuts Bangkok, back in 2020, another monk had won a sum of 18 million baht and also had intended to give away the money.

However, after being hounded by people for money, he eventually moved to another temple in another province. 

ALSO READ: Thai monks bring grocery store to the poor as pandemic hits incomes

melissateo@asiaone.com