Taiwanese hope Lin brings luck in lottery

Feb 17, 2012, 11:07 GMT

Taipei - Taiwanese were hoping Friday some of basketball star Jeremy Lin's good fortune would help them win a jackpot of 1.2 billion Taiwan dollars (40.6 million US dollars).

Fans clutching basketballs with Lin's lucky numbers written on them queued up at lottery ticket counters, local media reported.

Taiwan is in thrall to the first NBA player of Taiwanese descent, who scored 136 points in his first five NBA games as a starter to help the New York Knicks to seven wins in a row.

Ticket counter attendants said the hottest numbers for Friday night's draw were 17, Lin's jersey number, 7, the seven Knicks wins in a row, and 38, Lin's career high score against the Los Angeles Lakers last Friday.

Some hopefuls also picked 13, for Lin's record number of assists against the Sacramento Kings Wednesday, 23, Lin's age, and 2, which represents Lin's second season in the NBA.

Unfortunately, multiple winners will have to split the jackpot.

The lottery is only the latest of many ways that Taiwanese have been expressing what has become known as Linsanity.

Many restaurants, especially those in Lin's ancestral Changhua County, have offered free meals to anyone who shares Lin's Chinese name, Lin Shu-hao. Tourism agencies have also reported that packages to New York in March are selling out fast.

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