A lottery winner shot himself dead after he won more than $1.3 million but then lost his winning lottery tickets.
Jirawut Pongphan, 42, gathered family and friends to his house to celebrate winning a life-changing jackpot.
But he woke the next day to find his tickets gone, leaving him unable to claim his winnings.
Jirawut, from Chonburi province in eastern Thailand, had seven tickets with the winning numbers and thought he would be rich beyond his wildest dreams but his excitement was short-lived.
After almost becoming an overnight millionaire, Jirawut could not live with the sense of what he could have won.
He shot himself in the head leaving a suicide note saying: "I'm really sorry, please don't bully my family, I did win the lottery prize."
Jirawut bought seven tickets with the same numbers in the hope of maximizing his winnings.
He won the grand prize of 42,000,000 baht (US$1.3 million) in November last year.
But his excitement lasted for less than a day after his winning tickets mysteriously vanished.
Jirawut fell into a deep depression, his combination of stress and sadness leaving him unable to go to work.
On 31st January, Jirawut killed himself by placing a 9mm handgun to his left temple and pulling the trigger.
Thai police found Jirawut's body in his bedroom with his suicide lying next to him.
It is not known what happened to Jirawut's winning tickets and if anyone else came forward to claim the lottery winnings.
It is unclear if police are investigating whether or not the tickets were stolen.
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those misplaced tickets sure can be stressful at various times.
Please Play Responsibly. If you play the Lottery, here are some things to keep in mind:
1) Money needed for daily expenses should not be used for playing the Lottery.
2) Set a limit. Don't chase your losses and risk getting deeper into a hole.
3) Set some winnings aside for other purposes.
4) Winning and losing are both part of playing the Lottery and other gaming activities. If you're only prepared to win, you're not prepared to play the Lottery.
5) Playing the Lottery is a recreational activity and not an alternative to work.
6) If you do Win, Guard the Winning Ticket from Loss or Theft.
Since he is crazy enough to kill himself maybe his crazy brain forgot how deep he buried his ticket to hide it from everyone. Don't kill yourself too early until the claim time for the ticket has expired or offer a ten percent reward to who ever found it. Lottery does really kill literally
Sad. I guess money was more important than family.
There is a line in Iron Man 2 where Ivan Vanko says “ Hey Man Don’t get too attached to things...Learn to let go!”
I'm still for some reason sad. a life was lost, albeit at his own doing but still. Sad. Onlyl in your forties. Sure its older in 40+ but still
young and i am sad he felt a need to take his own life. But then again, some are more at peace when considering to do o.
sad story.
RIP.
".....gathered family and friends to his house....."
Common sense rules, keep important things in a safe area!
That is pretty selfish act if you have a family sorry I don't feel bad for him I've never thrown away that much money but I've changed my lottery tickets where I have cost myself $18000 but whatever I got over it.
Turn the tickets in first-celebrate second
One of the party go-ers stole his tickets.
"IF" he had the winning ticket then one of his "family & friends" made off with it. He was really stupid to celebrate before cashing in the ticket. I don't feel sorry for this jacka$$ in any way.
WOW
Such a sad story. No life is worth taking over any loss of money.
Just got to thinking : This “ sort of thing” happens more than we know.
Spouse going through a nasty divorce: decides to wipe out his whole family, including the other parent.
Jilted lover can’t stand the breakup, thinks : “If l can’t have you, no one else can, then decides to take both their lives.” Jirawut at least decided to take his own life, instead of thinking that his family would be incapable to handle life without him, so he might as well end theirs. It still makes him a selfish P**** anyway you look at it.
if I lost a ticket, I could imagine kicking myself, but not shooting my. I only play by subscription, so I can't loose any tickets.
Yes, it truly is a sad story. I don't have a clue about the highs and lows of Jirawut Pongphan's unique life, but what is apparent though is that the subjective lows of his life shaped him enough to feel such hurt and despair with this lost ticket that it drove him to end the pain. I've never felt that kind of unbearable despair, and truly can't imagine what it was like to walk for 42 years in his shoes. I wish him well on his cosmic vacation, and hope his family can find some measure of peace and comfort.
I appreciate your sentiments Cassie8620 - thank you.
More probably stolen by "friends" or family, than lost.
Since you only play by subscription, you can't loose any tickets...or ammo.
It may be difficult to understand his motivation for committing suicide without understanding the Thai culture which is deeply influenced by religion. With around 95% of the country being Theraveda Buddhist, the belief system and values of Buddhism play a huge role in day-to-day life. Throughout the country, the most important values that Thai people hold to are respect, self-control, and a non-confrontational attitude.
just think. Whoever stole those tickets are scared to death to cash it in. I’m sure that lottery system is waiting and watching.
A sad story .
Don't feel sorry for him. In 1996 I missed winning the NY lottery of 17 million because of my playslips I forgot at home when I went out with my wife. Was I depressed and mad? Absolutely.. but I got over it. It wasn't meant to be. I would have been the only winner. I'm still here today..WORKING.
How wise, considerate and empathic a response. Well said and well meant.
Human 'kind' could use more folks with your attributes.
A soul lost :(
Whether one is a Christian or not, we can all agree that Jesus was a Kind & Compassionate person. Yet, when someone approached him and said “ Lord, let me first go bury my father.. Jesus response was “ Let the dead bury the dead, and come follow me.( Luke 9:60)
Since Jirawut took his own life, he lacked appreciation for something this sacred. I can only imagine Jesus saying “ He did what?
as always: an opinion.
Thank you GameGrl :-)
Maybe you were saved from a major crime if you had won. God works in mysterious ways.
What a bizarre interpretation of Jesus saying " let the dead bury the dead" that is contrary to any church teaching from Baptists to Catholics.
It had nothing to do with the actual dead since Jesus Christ spoke in parables and stories and the dead cannot obviously bury the dead. It refers to being dead to Christ and making him first in your life. Jesus Christ did not disparage the dead. And what would Jesus Christ have done??? Perhaps raise him from the dead???
I am so sick of your misquoting members to try to troll but I draw the line at you speaking about a religion you know nothing about and never will and lying about someone whom the Christians in this group follow. You live to deceive and lie.
Just go away! I thought I made that very clear to you the last time around. As for quoting Baptists- Catholics, what does that have to do with anything? All denominations teach " their brand of Christianity. Jesus said, in case you dont know "Salvation originates with the Jews." ( John 4: )Why are you not one? I could school you on Christianity 5 days a week & twice on Sunday.
By the way you are attempting to silence my opinion in a forum - just who do you think you are?
l have many catholic friends who tell me, Peter established the first Church.Then where did all the others come from? Why not have one singular church, and you know why? Because of " interpretation." End of story.
One last thing- since you seem to "think" you know so much about Christianity. Answer this, or get in touch with your priests or pastors.
Why is it that Adam & Eve were told in scripture, that because of their sin, they would return to the dust of the ground.
Yet, after Christianity was established, the teaching in the churches, even up to today is, if you fail to obey God, you end up in hell fire for eternity. Who to you is the worst sinners, those original two, or folks who were born thousands of years later? Come up a real answer!