Karivellur: Five sacks tucked away at P P Raghavan’s house at Palakkunnu, Karivellur, hold a lifetime of dreams. They are filled not with prize-winning tickets, but with a six-decade record of hope, anticipation and a fortune that never arrived. Having spent around ₹2 crore chasing the elusive jackpot, Raghavan has earned an unusual title of his own: the unluckiest man to have lost crores.

The Kerala Lottery, launched on November 1, 1967, was conceived with two objectives of addressing unemployment and generating revenue for the government without burdening the public. The first ticket carried a prize money of ₹50,000, and the inaugural draw was held on January 26, 1968.

But Raghavan’s tryst with lotteries had begun even before Kerala introduced its own scheme. In 1967, he bought his first ticket, a Bhutan lottery ticket. Soon after, he purchased Kerala’s first ever lottery ticket for one rupee. An attempt to test his luck soon turned into a lifelong pursuit, as Raghavan continued buying tickets with the hope that the Goddess of Fortune would eventually smile upon him.The last ticket he bought was the recently released Vishu bumper lottery ticket.

Unlike most lottery enthusiasts who discard tickets after the draw, Raghavan preserved every ticket he purchased. Over the decades, the collection grew into a personal archive of his journey with luck, and when he finally calculated the amount spent on tickets, the figure came close to Rs.2 crore. In his own words, Raghavan is the unluckiest man to have lost crores.

Luck did visit him occasionally, but only in small measures. Raghavan won minor prizes several times, including the three-digit prize of Rs.4,000 in the Bhutan lottery. The life-changing jackpot, however, always remained elusive.

A portion of the income from his agricultural activities went into buying tickets. Raghavan cultivated paddy, coconut and banana on his two-and-a-half-acre property and was also actively involved in cattle rearing. There were times when he travelled to Payyanur and Kanhangad to purchase tickets, spending anywhere between Rs.1,000 and Rs.3,000 on some days.

He was once among the most loyal customers of lottery agents in the region. But his pursuit of fortune eventually came at a heavy cost. When debts mounted, he was forced to sell his land and even his wife’s jewellery.

Today, Raghavan and his wife K Shantha live in a small house on a 25-cent plot. Age-related difficulties have restricted his movements and he rarely steps out these days. His lottery habit too has changed as he now buys only bumper tickets. Yet, the hope that kept Raghavan going for six decades has not completely disappeared.

“I always believed that the Goddess of Fortune would bless me someday. But that never happened. Today, I am the unluckiest manto have lost crores,” Raghavan says with a smile.