(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-28 15:26

A Chinese person has won the country's largest ever individual lottery prize - US$14 million, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The unidentified buyer from the northwest province of Gansu bought 20 identical "Double Colour Ball" tickets issued by the China Welfare Lottery at a cost of 40 yuan on Tuesday, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

The buyer chose the same seven sets of two-digit numbers on each, reaping a total of 102.7 million yuan, the newspaper said.

"The centre's officials were glad to hear of such surprising news, but they would also like to remind lottery-ticket buyers that it is a recreation the state offers the people," said a statement on the lottery's official website .

"They hope everybody can take part in the game with a recreational, relaxed and normal attitude and buy rationally, taking into account their own financial means."