Walayar: Kerala's Jackpot Junction on Borderline of Hope

Over 130 kiosks & countless street vendors are selling Kerala lotteries in a dazzling maze of neon-lit stalls in the town located on Palakkad-Coimbatore highway

- SHYAM P V @ Palakkad

NESTLED right on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, the tiny Walayar town located on the Palakkad-Coimbatore highway, is more than just a checkpoint town – it is Kerala's own jackpot junction, a dazzling maze of neon-lit lottery stalls packed shoulder-to-shoulder. The streets and pocket roads hum with energy, the air thick with hope, and the buzz of buyers from across state borders is impossible to ignore.

Over 130 kiosks and countless street vendors are selling Kerala lotteries here making Walayar a dazzling world of dreams, risk, and relentless hope.

"You wouldn't see any other place in Kerala where so many stalls and street sellers are concentrated in one locality like in Walayar. Believe it or not, almost all the stalls in Walayar sell well over 500 tickets on a given day. The number crosses 1,000 each on Sundays, when people from Tamil Nadu come in huge numbers and purchase tickets for up to next 10 days," says C Babu, district secretary of the All Kerala Lottery Traders Union, explaining the magnitude of the lottery trade in Walayar.

"Some believe in a few lucky numbers, many believe in particular weekdays while a huge number of buyers believe in ticket sets and books. The availability of books and sets is also a reason why people flock to Walayar," Babu adds.