A Chinese lottery winner who hit the jackpot by amassing 30 million dollars (Sh. 3.6 billion) made headlines when he collected his new sizeable fortune dressed in a yellow mascot costume. The man, Mr. Li had won the lottery from the Guangxi Welfare Lottery.
Pressed by the media about his decision to turn up dressed in a costume, Mr. Li said that he’d rather keep the wealth a secret from his wife and children for now as he was afraid that “they might feel superior to other people and will not work or study hard in future.”
For now, he has managed to keep his good fortune a secret, although one wonders when Mr. Li will let the cat out of the bag.
Upon winning, Mr. Li donated 685,000 dollars (Sh. 83 million) to a charity in China, the Guangxi Welfare Lottery Center for public welfare.
He hopes that the proceeds he gave would go to good deeds such as helping the elderly, the disabled, the orphans and the needy.
READ: Cosmas Korir: How I spent my Sh. 208 million jackpot money
Mr. Li also disclosed that he is yet to decide on how to spend his money. From the wealth he has amassed, he says that he’s begun experiencing nervousness and insomnia as he does not even know where to take the money.
Mr. Li has been playing this lottery for the past decade and had won only a handful of dollars every now and then. Oddly, when the lottery winner was being announced, Mr. Li was asleep and he came to find out he was a billionaire the next morning.
It is reported that he spent $11 on 40 tickets, among which were the three lucky numbers for the lottery; 02-15-19-26-27-29-02. Each one ended up winning at least $765,000, which brought the total to $30.6 million.
According to Li, he has been betting on the same seven numbers in the past several years simply because they “looked pleasing” to him.
“I regard buying the lottery as a hobby, and my family does not care. Plus, I do not spend much money on it, and the lottery provides a ray of hope for me.” He said.
After taxes, Mr. Li took home about $22 million (Sh. 2.8 billion). Despite his wife not knowing of Li’s new millions of dollars, she has a right to the winnings as a joint owner of the newly claimed asset under the Chinese Marriage Law