Lottery winners who hit the jackpot are always good news stories, but the anonymous lucky individual who was the subject of reports in all major media on Feb. 3 represented a different angle on the topic. Instead of being announced by the authorities who administer the Year-end Jumbo Takarakuji lottery, the ¥700 million prize was publicized by a regional financial institution, Chiba Prefecture's Keiyo Bank. That's because the winner of the jackpot didn't actually have the winning ticket in his or her possession. The bank was holding it for safe keeping.

With interests rates on time deposits being so low for so long, banks, especially smaller regional ones, have a tough time convincing people to become customers and usually resort to special premiums or deals. Keiyo's is to offer lottery tickets as incentives to open savings accounts. For every one million yen deposited in a three-year teiki yokin (time deposit account), the depositor receives five lottery tickets per year for various drawings. Keiyo, however, only supplies the customer with the number of the ticket, not the ticket itself, which it holds on to. When the drawing is carried out the customer checks the number against the winners and if there's a match the customer contacts the bank, which then gives the customer the ticket for him or her to cash in.

In this most recent case, the drawing was conducted in early January and the bank, knowing that one of its customers had won, waited for the customer to call. The person didn't.   After a month, the bank finally called the individual with the happy news.