China small business owner, 28, scoops US$96 million lottery jackpot, largest win in country’s history

A 28-year-old man from Guizhou province, China, recently clinched a staggering 680-million-yuan (US$96 million) lottery jackpot, marking the largest win in the country's history to date.

According to the website of the government-backed organizer China Welfare Lottery, the winner purchased 133 tickets at a modest two yuan (28 US cents) each. Consistently betting on the same group of seven numbers, each of his tickets secured a prize of 5.16 million yuan (US$725,000), as reported by the local television station.

While the identity of the fortunate winner remains undisclosed, customary for prize recipients, the windfall entitled him to claim the 680-million-yuan bounty, confirmed by an official from the provincial welfare lottery center when he came to collect his prize on February 7.

As per the regulations of the Individual Income Tax Law, the winner is obliged to allocate one-fifth of his lottery earnings towards taxes, as outlined in the report.

Upon receiving the life-changing news via his mobile phone, the man admitted to being initially incredulous. "At first I didn’t believe it, so I verified it several times. I was too thrilled to sleep," he recounted. Waste no time, he made his way to Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou province, the following morning to claim his prize-winning check.

Sharing insight into his winning strategy, the man, who runs a small business in Anshun city, revealed his meticulous approach to selecting numbers. "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 explained, expressing his intention to celebrate the joyous occasion with his family during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

The colossal jackpot surpasses China's previous record of 570 million yuan, secured by a resident of Beijing in 2012. Such tales of grand lottery victories frequently captivate mainland social media, with recent instances sparking public intrigue and even calls for investigation, as seen in the case of a man from Jiangxi province last December.

Similarly, the decision of a resident from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to keep his 218-million-yuan win secret from his family in 2022 drew criticism, as he believed revealing the windfall would deter their work ethic.