A Man Who Won $30 Million from the Chinese Lottery Says He'll Keep It Secret from His Wife and Child in Case It Makes Them Lazy He donned a bright yellow costume to accept his winnings — it is traditional in China for lottery winners to claim their prizes in costume so they can remain anonymous.
By Grace Dean
- A man who won $30 million in the Chinese lottery says he won't tell his wife and child.
- He told a local paper he was worried that news of his winnings would make them lazy.
- He donned a bright yellow costume of the lottery's mascot to collect his prize and have photos taken.
This story was originally published on Business Insider.
A man who won $30.1 million on a Chinese welfare lottery says he plans to keep it a secret out of the fear it would make his wife and child complacent.
The man – identified by local newspaper the Nanning Evening News as Mr Li – won 219.4 million yuan on the Guangxi Welfare Lottery on October 20.
"I have not told my wife or kid," Li told the publication, per a translation by The South China Morning Post. "I am concerned that they might feel superior to other people and will not work or study hard in future."
On October 20, he bought 40 lottery tickets in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. He woke up the next morning to discover that his tickets had won.
Li collected his check in Nanning, the southern region's capital, on October 24, per an article from the Nanning Evening News shared on social network Weibo. He said that he didn't leave the hotel that weekend out of fear that he'd lose his ticket.
Li donned the bright yellow costume of Fudou, the lottery's mascot, to collect his prize and have photos taken.
The publication reported that Li had been buying lottery tickets for more than ten years, and had only occasionally won small amounts of money.
"I regard buying the lottery as a hobby, and my family does not care," Li told The Nanning Evening News, per a translation by The South China Morning Post.
"Plus, I do not spend much money on it, and the lottery provides a ray of hope for me."
Li donated 5 million yuan (around $690,000) to charity, per the Nanning Evening News. After tax, he took home around 171.6 million yuan ($23.6 million), per the publication. Li said he hadn't yet decided what to do with the rest of his winnings.
