Lottery Winner Hid $30М Jackpot from Family

On October 21, a Chinese citizen, identified only by his pseudonym Mr Li, won a jackpot amounting to 220 million Yuan (approximately $30.1 million) but decided not to tell his wife and child, because he was afraid that they would become lazy and would not work or study hard in future or they would act conceitedly.

Li had no doubts about his lottery numbers and bought 40 lottery tickets in Guangxi Zhuang province with the same number combinations for each of them. Each ticket, which cost 80 Yuan (roughly $11), brought Li a prize amounting to 5.48 million Yuan (roughly $750,000), totaling 220 million Yuan.

A Jackpot Secret Hidden by a Yellow Cartoon Costume

Li confessed that he did not sleep the night after he learned that he won the lottery prize. On October 24, he went to the Guangxi Welfare Lottery Distribution Center in Nanning City to receive his award. During the cheque presentation ceremony, he was dressed in a yellow cartoon costume to hide his identity from his family. He thought that this life-changing news might make his wife and child feel superior to other people and they would stop working or studying hard.

The winner donated 5 million Yuan (roughly $684,660) to an undisclosed charity. The government collected the respective taxes amounting to 43 million Yuan (roughly $5.9 million) and Li returned home with a 171 million Yuan (approximately $23.4 million) prize.

Li considers himself a fan of the wagering games as he was buying lottery tickets regularly in the past few years and has been wagering on the same seven numbers because they “looked pleasing” to him.

Li commented that buying lottery tickets is like a hobby for him and he does not spend much money on it. Previously, he had won only a few dozen Yuan.

The winner added that he was not sure how he would spend the rest of the money. He was thinking to plan these steps carefully. Despite the fact that Li’s wife had no knowledge about the multi-million award, she has a right to the money as a joint owner of the newly claimed asset, as per the Chinese Marriage Law.

Gambling – No, Lotteries – Yes

Although gambling in China is illegal under Chinese Law, the Chinese Communist government operates two lotteries to support welfare programs. According to a report issued by China’s Ministry of Finance, the ticket sales of Chinese lotteries amounted to more than 33.33 billion Yuan ($4.57 billion) in September, which is a 6.7% increase compared to September 2021. The sales of the Chinese Lottery for the first nine months of 2022 amounted to 281.24 billion Yuan ($38.61 billion), which is a 1% increase in comparison to 2021.