Father keeps $30 million lottery win a secret from wife and child over fears it will make them lazy

A man from southern China has decided to keep his USD $30 million (AUD $47 million, £26 million) lottery ticket a secret over fears it will make his family lazy.

The Daily Mail reported that the man, who identifies as ‘Mr Li’, dressed as a yellow cartoon character while picking up his winnings at the lottery office in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi.

The bizarre choice of costume was to ensure his identity remained a secret.

While the man was over the moon about his win, he revealed that he would keep the jackpot a secret from his wife and child.

Guangxi Welfare Lottery Centre

“I didn’t 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, as per Daily Mail.

Mr Li said he bought 40 tickets in eastern Nanning and each ticket had the same seven numbers on it: 2, 15, 19, 26, 27, 29, and 2.

After realising he’d won, Mr Li, placed himself in a hotel room for the night before claiming his prize to avoid misplacing his ticket.

He said: “I did not leave the hotel because I was afraid to go out and lose the lottery ticket.”

The freshly minted millionaire told the South China Morning Post that he has been betting on the lottery for over a decade but has only won minor prizes in the past.

He said: “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.”

So far, the man has donated 5 million yuan (AUD $1.07m or £598,105) to charity; however, he's still deciding what to do with the rest of his earnings.

Similarly, a woman on Reddit revealed that she kept her lottery win a secret from her husband for several years.

The woman, who won USD $480,000 (AUD $750,480 or £417,981) in 2014, said that her husband only found out this year after he saw a notification on her phone informing her that her account reached USD $1 million (AUD $1.5m or £870,795).

The post stunned users as one person wrote: “This was my ex husband. Now I have bankruptcy on my file and can't get credit anywhere.”

Another said: “I’d be p***ed, but not that p***ed. Hubby is gonna be able to milk that cow all the way to a new truck.”

While another commented: “Yeah, I would feel quite violated if my Spouse didn't see it fit at any point in 7 years of marriage to share that she was sitting on a big pot of money.”