You could say this family of five is a punter’s dream when it comes to buying 4D.
Friends of the Loke family call them the “number family” because of their unique birthdates, which consist of repeated numbers.
Mr Sharmen Loke, 38, was born on Jan 1.
His wife, Madam Yau Mei Siong, 37, was born on Sept 9.
Eldest son Lucius, five, was born on June 6, whereas second son Andrius, two, was also born on Jan 1.
And just two weeks ago, their youngest son, Justinius, was born on April 4.
The couple, who are both civil servants, said their sons were delivered via natural birth and they did not induce their births on specific dates.
Madam Yau’s gynaecologist, Dr Ben Neo of Ben Neo Clinic for Women, confirmed this, saying it was the first time he had seen something like this.
Mr Loke and his wife met when they were studying at the School of Design & Environment at the National University of Singapore. They got married in 2006.
To Mr Loke, these repeated numbers make his family unique.
He told The New Paper: “I feel very blessed… The numbers are special and this is a story we can tell future generations of our family.”
Madam Yau added jokingly that this coincidence is “even better than winning the lottery”.
According to Singapore Pools, the Lokes’ birthdate numbers have won several times, with the combination ‘0909’ striking, well, nine times since 1988.
Yet, Mr Loke has never bought 4-D because he has no interest in gambling.
However, he said his father struck three times over the last five years with the combination ‘1199’. The biggest win was several thousand dollars.
Mr Loke added that he does not seek out these numbers in his everyday life.
The only coincidence was when he bought his first motorcycle in 2011. The licence plate that was assigned to him had the numbers ’96’ – ‘9’ for Madam Yau’s birthdate and ‘6’ for Lucius’.
Coincidentally, the number ’96’ appeared again for the licence plate of his second motorcycle. So when he bought his third bike, he bid and got the same number again.
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Five years ago, when he bought a Suzuki Grand Vitara, he bid and got the licence plate number ‘1199’ – ‘1’ for his birthdate and ‘9’ for his wife’s.
So does he plan to expand his number pool with more children?
Mr Loke said: “No, we had only planned to have three kids. When Justinius’ birthday was also a repeated number, we felt this was a sign of closure.”
He admitted it is easier for him to never forget a family member’s birthday, but “who would forget their children’s or wife’s birthday, right?”
This article was first published on April 18, 2016.
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