A LOTTERY player in Nanchang, East China’s Jiangxi Province, won more than 220 million yuan (US$30.77 million) by spending 100,000 yuan to buy 50,000 lottery tickets of the same number. However, a staffer from the civil affairs department of Jiangxi Province told the Modern Express on Thursday that they had launched an investigation into the case. The staffer said that he was not sure whether a notice would be issued soon. The lucky individual reportedly spent 100,000 yuan to purchase the tickets for the Happy 8 lottery, all with the same numbers. When the numbers hit in the lottery draw, each ticket became a winner. The winning streak occurred Dec. 2 when the man purchased the tickets for the Happy 8 pick-7 lottery game. He visited different vendors across Nanchang, purchasing the tickets with the same numbers. The gamble paid off the same day he bought the tickets when the lottery draw took place. Each of the 50,000 tickets secured a single prize of 4,475 yuan, culminating in the monumental prize. The winner went to Jiangxi Welfare Lottery Distribution Center to claim the prize Tuesday, The Paper reported Wednesday. There, he disclosed a history of consistently purchasing lottery tickets over five years, spending anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan on tickets. Chinese social media sparked speculation about the big win, leading some to theorize that it was fixed as math indicates that buying multiple lottery tickets may not boost one’s chances of winning. It was the most logical explanation for someone spending that much money on the same numbers and then winning. In the Happy 8 lottery, the number of winning numbers on a ticket determines the size of the prize. Since he matched all seven and won, he took the top prize, multiplying it by the number of tickets he purchased. The prize money for a single bet can only reach 4,475 yuan. According to the provisions of the lottery, only when the winning amount exceeds 10,000 yuan, the player needs to pay personal income tax. Therefore, the lottery player does not need to pay taxes when receiving the prize. Netizens are skeptical about the results, questioning the legitimacy of the draw and whether the player had insider information. But a staffer from the Jiangxi lottery center told The Paper that there was no inside information about the lottery game and that the identity of the winner could not be disclosed.(SD News) | 