Masked man collects 360-million-yuan lottery jackpot

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-29 08:00

China's biggest-ever lottery prize of almost 360 million yuan ($52.7 million), which had triggered weeks of nationwide speculation over the identity of its winner, has finally been claimed, local lottery administrators said yesterday.

A middle-aged man surnamed An took home the 290 million yuan after-tax jackpot at midday Tuesday, said Li Guangyun, spokesman of Provincial Welfare Lottery Center Henan province.

Lottery officials announced on Oct 8 that a winning ticket worth almost 360 million yuan was bought in Anyang of Henan.

But the unidentified buyer didn't come forward to claim the gigantic Dual-colored Ball jackpot of the China Welfare Lottery until 19 days after the announcement. This raised speculation about the identity of the winner, who has been nicknamed the "most wanted man in China".

"The winner is a local middle-aged businessman surnamed An from Anyang," Li said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

"An refused to reveal his identity. He was wearing sunglasses and a face mask when he came to collect the jackpot."

An came to the lottery Center of Henan at 11:45 am Tuesday to collect his jackpot, and walked out of the center 25 minutes later, according to Li.

An decided to donate 10 million yuan to Henan Charity Federation immediately and 600,000 yuan to Yan Mengmeng, a Henan girl suffering uremia.

Lottery winners are required to collect their money within two months after paying 20 percent of the amount in taxes. But they don't have to pay tax on the money that they donate.

So An will pay 69.9 million yuan in taxes instead of 72 million.

"An said he will maintain his current life style and spend the money responsibly and wisely despite claiming China's biggest-ever jackpot," said Li. "He will invest some of the winning into his business."

According to Li, An has been buying lottery tickets on a regular basis for three years. He bought four tickets worth 1,000 yuan on Oct 8 and the third one was the winning ticket.

The jackpot was paid in full to An by cash and cheque on Tuesday, Li said.

The average annual income of China's urban resident is about 30,000 yuan in 2008, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This means that an average worker would have to work more than 9,600 years to earn the equivalent of An's lottery win.

According to a survey conducted by major portal Sina.com, about 74 percent of 150,000 respondents said the amount of the jackpot is "unbelievable" and they are "shocked".

According to the website, the two most frequently asked questions about the winner are: "Who is the guy?" and "What's he going to do with all that money?"

Though the odds of winning the Welfare Lottery's top prize is about one in 17.7 million, many Chinese buy tickets in the hope of improving their lives, generating huge returns every year.

But people have questioned the credibility of the lottery because scandals have happened in the past.

A software engineer surnamed Cheng broke into a database of the Welfare Lottery Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on June 9 this year in an attempt to win 33 million yuan in the Dual-colored Ball lottery.

Xia Xueluan, a professor with the Department of Sociology at Peking University, said such a gigantic win affects lottery players.

"Suspicions over the big win are also normal," Xia told the Xinhua News Agency. "Transparency is important because it can give people confidence in the lottery system."

An independent agency supervising the lottery operation would be useful to regulate the industry, to oversee the use of lottery funds and release information on a monthly, quarterly and half-yearly basis, like companies listed on the stock markets.