China's biggest jackpot winner collected his winnings yesterday
at the Gansu Welfare Lottery Center without reporters spotting him,
the newspaper Information Times reported today.
The center opened a "green channel" for the winner to protect
his privacy, the report said.
The civil servant won 114 million yuan (US$15.43 million) on
November 27, the newspaper said.
"I felt so excited when learning that I won the jackpot," the
winner told an employee at the lottery center. "I couldn't even
sleep or eat in the past couple days."
"I heard a radio broadcast saying the jackpot had accumulated to
more than 100 million yuan while driving my car on November 27. So
I chose the combination at random to try my luck," he told the
employee.
He bought 21 tickets with the same combination of numbers and 15
tickets with another combination of numbers. Each ticket costs two
yuan.
The top award was more than five million yuan this time, thus
the man received 21 times the award and another 15 tickets also
brought him the second prize.
He has bought lottery tickets for a long time and will continue
to do so in the future, he said.
The man said he will donate one million yuan to needy people and
invest the rest in companies instead of depositing it into banks,
the report said.
The draw is held every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Two lottery
machines pick six of 33 red balls and one of 16 blue-colored balls
to generate the winning combination of numbers.
(Shanghai Daily, December 4, 2007)