Provincial officials said Phra Yungyuth Hitamo of Wat Pa Rung Arun in Buri Ram’s Mueang district confessed to district clerk Manoonsak Nampratheung that he sold the tickets on behalf of a local minimart in exchange for 5 per cent of the proceeds.

The monk allegedly admitted that most buyers were seeking to make merit and trusted him in the belief he had to adhere to monastic precepts.

Investigators found no cash at the monk’s residence – only a large number of old lottery tickets and the residue of burned paper nearby, which could be considered circumstantial evidence.