A man who won $30 million on the Chinese lottery says he'll keep it secret from his wife and child in case it makes them lazy

The winner of the 219.4 million yuan in the Guangxi Welfare Lottery showed up to claim his prize dressed as the letters mascot, Fudou. It is a tradition in China for lottery winners to claim their prizes in costume so they may retain anonymity.

The winner purchased 40 lottery tickets in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and was happily surprised to find out one of these tickets was a winner. He had been buying tickets for more than ten years and had only previously won small amounts of money. He’s considered his participation in the lottery as a hobby that he never spends too much money on, and has continued to participate because doing so gave him "a ray of hope."

He spoke to the local paper under the pseudonym “Mr. Li”  and told the reporter that he was worried about how this fortune might impact his family. Mr. Li has chosen to keep the secret from his wife and child in fear that the money will make them lazy. He donated 5 million yuan to charity and will walk away with 171.6 million yuan after taxes. Mr. Li has not yet decided what he will do with the money.

For more information see Grace Dean “A man who won $30 million on the Chinese lottery says he’ll keep it secret from his wife and child in case it makes them lazy”, Business Insider, November 2, 2022.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Florida Probate Attorney) for bringing this article to my attention.