A woman in Changchun has turned a ¥6 lottery purchase into a life-changing payday, claiming ¥12,045,965 after winning the top prize in the Super Lotto draw on 11 February. The winner, identified only by the surname Liu for privacy, presented the ticket at the Jilin Provincial Sports Lottery Centre the next day to complete the payout. The jackpot came from a single additional-bet ticket sold at a small retail outlet in Lvyuan district, a reminder of how low-cost entries can deliver outsized returns.
The prize attracted attention not only for its size but for the tax it generated: Jilin province collected ¥2,409,193 in individual occasional income tax from the payout. That withholding — equal to 20% of the gross prize — underscores one practical role of state-run lotteries in China, which operate both as gambling products and as revenue sources for public coffers and welfare projects. The provincial lottery authority used the win to reiterate appeals for rational play and to frame the draw as a piece of New Year cheer.
Liu said she discovered the result the morning after the draw, and described the family’s reaction as elation and surprise, calling the win a fortunate start to the Year of the Horse. She told officials she will secure the money in savings and use it to improve living standards, and urged other players to bet sensibly and support the lottery’s public-welfare mission. Her prudential plan and public comments echo the lottery operator’s messaging about moderation amid the spike in ticket purchases that typically accompanies Lunar New Year festivities.
The Changchun win follows a separate, larger jackpot in neighbouring Jilin city earlier this season, a ¥17.77m first prize reported before the lottery’s brief Spring Festival suspension. Such clusters of big wins during the holiday period are not evidence of systemic change but do highlight how concentrated play and seasonal sales surges can produce high-profile payouts in short order. For retailers, local governments and provincial lottery bureaus, those moments generate publicity, boost short-term sales and translate into immediate tax receipts.
China’s state sports lottery is positioned as a sanctioned form of gambling that channels proceeds to sporting and public-welfare projects, and officials frequently combine promotion of the games with reminders about responsible play. Critics and social analysts, however, caution that lotteries can disproportionately attract lower-income players chasing large returns, which raises questions about the social distribution of gambling's benefits and harms. The Jilin case is therefore both a human-interest story and a small test case in how authorities manage publicity, tax collection and consumer protection.
For everyday readers outside China the story offers a compact lesson in how modern lotteries function where they are state-controlled: modest stakes can produce large, taxable wins; authorities use such moments for both publicity and public-welfare messaging; and holiday seasons amplify participation and revenue. Whether viewed as a stroke of personal luck, a revenue boost for provincial coffers, or a reminder of the social trade-offs inherent in state-run gambling, the Changchun jackpot will be cited locally as both fortune and policy fodder.