Huge lottery win creates buzz at Sanlitun store

Download

People rushed to try their luck at a lottery agency in Beijing's Sanlitun area that sold winning tickets to someone who hit the country's biggest jackpot of more than 570 million yuan ($89.74 million) on Wednesday.

"Is this the place that gave birth to the jackpot of 570 million yuan?" Liu Dongsheng, a driver who has been playing the lottery for about five years, asked a staffer at the outlet.

After hearing the answer was yes, he pulled 40 yuan from his wallet and placed a bet in the game Dual-Colored Ball, just as the jackpot winner had done.

Liu said he read the big news from his mobile phone and immediately drove to the lottery station, hoping to also strike it rich.

The website of zhcw.com, an information portal for the China Welfare Lottery Issuing and Management Center, showed that the jackpot ticket holder spent 220 yuan to buy numbers picked randomly by a computer.

Regular players of the lottery gathered at the shop, which is inside a tiny room on the first floor of a hotel in Sanlitun, for news and gossip.

"It definitely depends on luck. No one can expect such a jackpot. In the past, the biggest prize was 600,000 yuan in our store," said Hou Shunxiang, a salesperson at the lottery outlet.

Hou said it was too early to tell whether the jackpot will boost their business, adding that on average the store has sold about 100,000 yuan in lottery tickets every month.

The winner did not come forward on Wednesday, although he or she has 60 days to come forward after the drawing.

The winner will be taxed 20 percent.

"We have no idea who the person is or when the ticket was sold until the winner goes to claim the prize," said Di Kai, a publicity official from the Beijing Welfare Lottery Issuing and Management Center.

"The winner needs to bring the winning ticket and an ID card to our center, we will pay the prize by check or bank transition, depending on the winner's preference," said Di, who was bombarded by media at the lottery outlet on Wednesday morning.

Di predicted the winner would not show up in the first two weeks to avoid too much attention from the public.

He said there are no restrictions on foreigners playing the lottery on the Chinese mainland if they are older than 18.

The Chinese government began the welfare lottery in the late 1980s to raise money for public welfare projects, including building nursing homes and child welfare institutions.

In 2011, more than 127 billion yuan worth of lottery tickets were sold.

The previous lottery record in the country was held by a player who received a jackpot of 565 million yuan in July 2011 in Zhejiang province.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.