‘Too thrilled to sleep’: China small business owner, 28, scoops US$96 million lottery jackpot, largest win in country’s history
- Buys 133 tickets, 2 yuan each, bets same 7 numbers, each wins US$725,000
- Exceeds previous US$80 million jackpot win by Beijing man in 2012
A 28-year-old man in China has won a 680-million-yuan (US$96 million) lottery jackpot, the biggest in the country so far.
The winner is from Guizhou province in southwestern China, according to the website of the government-backed organiser China Welfare Lottery.
He bought 133 tickets at two yuan (28 US cents) each, betting on the same group of seven numbers every time, and each of his tickets won a prize of 5.16 million yuan (US$725,000), the local television station reported.
The lottery pool entitled the man, whose identity has not been released to the public, which is routine for prize winners, to receive the 680-million-yuan bonanza.
An official from the provincial welfare lottery centre said the winner came to pick up the prize on February 7.
As the Individual Income Tax Law rules, he will need to pay one-fifth of his lottery income in tax, the report said.
The man said he received the message about his massive win on his mobile phone at night and was so excited he could not sleep.
“At first I didn’t believe it, so I verified it several times. I was too thrilled to sleep,” he said.
The man, who has a small business in Anshun city, drove to Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, to collect his prize-winning cheque early the next morning.
“I’ve been researching the trend of numbers appearing in previous winning tickets. I chose some of those and added one of my own lucky numbers to bet on,” he said.
“I have bet on this set of figures for a long time. I will share this good news with my family during the Spring Festival holiday.”
His lottery win of 680 million yuan exceeded China’s previous record of 570 million yuan, won by a man living in Beijing in 2012.
Stories of huge lottery prizes often captivate mainland social media.
In December last year, a man in eastern Jiangxi province spent 100,000 yuan buying lottery tickets and scooping a 200-million-yuan prize, triggering public suspicion and requests for an investigation.
A man, who lives in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, attracted criticism after he won 218 million yuan in 2022, but decided not to tell his wife or children because he thought they would “swell in their heart” and stop working hard.
