A man in southwestern Sichuan Province hit a jackpot of 260 million yuan (US$41 million) last night, becoming the third biggest lottery winner on the Chinese mainland.

The middle-aged man in Nanjiang County bought 50 tickets for the China Welfare Lottery's Union Lotto, known as "two-colored ball," with 100 yuan and one ticket has the winning number.

The unidentified man is perhaps the biggest lottery winner in Sichuan, the local welfare lottery center told the Southern Metropolis Daily.

He needs to pay about 52 million yuan in windfall tax when he comes to claim the jackpot, the center's officials said.

China's biggest lottery winner emerged last June in Zhejiang Province when he won a record 514 million yuan, and the second biggest winner was a teacher in central Henan Province who scooped nearly 360 million yuan in October 2009.