Chinese Man Wins Millions in Lottery, Keeps it Secret from his Wife

Chinese husband keeps £1.2million lottery prize a secret from his wife for two years -  she finds out, files for divorce and sues him for 60% of his winnings

• The man's wife eventually discovered the fortune her husband had hidden
• She then filed for divorce and sued him for her stake of the lottery jackpot

A Chinese man who kept his multi-million lottery winnings a secret from his wife has been ordered by a court to compensate his ex-partner.

The man, whose surname was given as Zhou, won a staggering 10 million yuan (£1.2 million) in 2021.

But instead of sharing his newfound wealth with his wife, Zhou continued life as though nothing had happened and concealed the winnings from her.

This meant that when the lottery winnings were paid out into his bank account, he didn't celebrate with a dream holiday for the pair, nor even a bottle of wine to toast the win.

Rather, Zhou transferred two million yuan to his sister, and a further 700,000 yuan to his ex-wife so that she could buy an apartment for herself.

A Chinese man who hid his multi-million lottery winnings a secret from his then-wife has been ordered by a court to compensate his ex-partner (file image: Chinese lottery ticket)

Eventually, Zhou's wife discovered the hidden fortune. It is not known how she discovered that he had hidden the money, but as soon as she did, she reportedly filed for divorce and sued him for her stake of the cash.

Zhou's wife, whose name is unknown, asked the court to grant her two-thirds of the money remaining after tax.

The woman should have been entitled to half of the money on account of being married to Zhou, and asked the court for more due to him going to great lengths to conceal the jackpot from her.

A court in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, agreed with her and told Zhou he had to reimburse his now ex-wife for 2.7 million yuan.

The Chinese government holds national lotteries to raise money for welfare and cultural programmes across the country. Winners are taxed on their payout. 

Rather unusually, it seems this isn't an uncommon story in China.

Just last year, another man concealed his winnings from his wife and child, even going to the extent of collecting his winnings in a giant yellow cartoon character costume.

The man, who was only identified as 'Mr Li', said he wanted to hide the winnings from his family so the jackpot wouldn't make them lazy.

Just last year, another man concealed his winnings from his wife and child , even going to the extent of collecting his winnings in a giant yellow cartoon character costume. The man, who was only identified as 'Mr Li', said he wanted to hide the winnings from his family so the jackpot wouldn't make them lazy 

'Mr Li' cashed in a whopping 219 million yuan (£26 million) in lottery winnings which he collected in disguise from the lottery office in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi. 

'I did not tell my wife and child for fear that they would be too complacent and would not work or work hard in the future,' he told Nanning Evening News in November.

It's not known if 'Mr Li's' wife or child have found out about the winnings yet. 

To protect his anonymity, the man, who only identified himself by the pseudonym 'Mr Li', dressed in a yellow cartoon character costume to claim his winnings at the lottery office in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi