2010 Top Ten News

Top 10 lucky winners

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-20 10:32

Editor's note: To the ancient Greeks, it was Goddess Tyche; to the ancient Romans, it was Fortuna; and to us, it is simply Lady Luck. Blessing, fluke, providence, windfall...call her whatever you like, she is undoubtedly the most desired in the world. Yet she is also the most elusive, favoring only a select few and evading a great too many. She comes to us in many shades, but none so dramatic and overwhelming as winning a jackpot.

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1. 'World's luckiest man' gives away his lottery fortune

2. Canadian couple donates $11.2 m winnings

3. Couple wins Israel's biggest lottery after 'lucky find’

4. Lottery winner wants to buy - many things

5. British couple wins 56 million pounds ($87.4 million)

6. Man snatches 259 million yuan ($38.9 million) lottery in Shanghai

7. Man snatches 258 million yuan ($38.7 million) lottery in Henan province

8. Taiwan doctor wins NT$389 million ($12.84 million) lottery

9. Chongqing woman swaps small change for big bucks in lottery win

10. Men hit 6 '7s’ to win 5 million yuan ($750,000) apiece

 

1. 'World's luckiest man' gives away his lottery fortune

Ever tried the following?

Thrown out of a plane on your first and only flight when a door blows open; plunged into icy water when your train jumps the rails; flung into a river when your bus skids off the road; knocked down by a bus; your car catches fire, twice; and leap out of your car at the last minute and watch it fall off a 100-meter cliff.

Frano Selak, an 81-year-old Croatian music teacher, has not only experienced these life-threatening accidents, but he survived each one with only minor injuries.

He then won a $1 million lottery, to celebrate his fifth marriage!

Selak, dubbed the "world's luckiest man"?- or unluckiest by some?- gave his lottery money away after he decided "money cannot buy happiness."

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2. Canadian couple donates $11.2 m winnings

Most people donate upon hitting the jackpot, but they rarely relinquish it all. Well, a Canadian couple who won $11.2 million in the lottery did give it all away.

Allen and Violet Large, both in their 70s, considered their stroke of luck earlier this year to be a “big headache” and they decided against spending the sum.

"What you've never had, you never miss," said Violet, 78.

She and Allen, 75, were totally comfortable with handing over the money.

"That money that we won was nothing," Allen said. "We have each other."

"?'Tis better to give than to receive," this lovely couple knows the adage well.

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3. Couple wins Israel's biggest lottery after 'lucky find’

An Israeli couple picked up the country's biggest-ever lottery jackpot?- four months after they won.

The pair had in fact been holding the lottery ticket before they happened to "find" it in a pile of papers and old lottery forms at home.

They received their prize at a news conference, wearing masks to conceal their identities.

"This win is thanks to my wife, who pushed me to go check the tickets because otherwise I wouldn't have found it," the man said.

The moral of this story? Marry a nagging wife and don't throw away your lottery tickets?- or other trash for that matter?- for at least four months. By the way, remember to wear hoods and masks if you do win.

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4. Lottery winner wants to buy - many things

Peter Redikin was so overcome with emotion that he "was shaking like a leaf" and "started crying" when he realized he had scored more than 11 million pounds ($15.6 million).

The 50-year-old unemployed man lives in Greater Manchester in England with his 48-year-old wife, Jacqueline.

"I thought he had a car crash," she expressed her disbelief and shock when he phoned her.

They won it with the same numbers they have been using for years. (They are 4, 17, 22, 24, 38 and 43, if you must know.)

Mr Redikin revealed he wanted to spend the money repairing his long-suffering knees, buying a new car and treating his family, before embarking on a trip with his wife.

An honest man with practical choices, don't you think?

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5. British couple wins 56 million pounds ($87.4 million)

Nigel Page, 43, said he was "shaking and couldn't speak" (Sound familiar? You are not alone) when he realized he had hit the EuroMillions jackpot back in February.

Page, who runs a property maintenance firm, lives with his estate agent partner Justine Laycock, 41, in Cirencester, Gloucestershire in England.

The couple moved in to a new eco-friendly mansion worth 4 million pounds ($6.24 million) and left their 400,000 pound ($624,000) home nearby to their cleaner, after they received the prize money.

It was the biggest lottery win in the country's history at the time before being eclipsed twice?- 84.4 million pounds ($131.7 million) and 113 million pounds ($176.3 million), the winners of which are, unfortunately, unknown to the public?- later in the year.

The couple also got married after eight years together.

"Money never made a man happy yet, or will it"? Take that, Mr Benjamin Franklin.

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6. Man snatches 259 million yuan ($38.9 million) lottery in Shanghai

A man scooped 259 million yuan ($38.9 million) lottery money in Shanghai in August, the second largest in China, media reports said.

As requested by the man?- and typical for lottery winners in China?- he is only identified as a certain Mr Shen, an alias, according to reports, which means we know next to nothing about the winner.

But we do know he donated a total of 10.32 million yuan ($1.55 million) on the spot, to landslide-hit Zhouqu county in Northwest China and to his native Shanghai.

We also know he is a veteran lottery buyer and that quite a number of people doubted the authenticity of the whole winning affair, claiming foul play.

Taste like sour grapes? Perhaps a little.

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7. Man snatches 258 million yuan ($38.7 million) lottery in Henan province

No, don't get confused, it's one million less, and this time it's in Central China's Henan province in October.

Yes, your guess is right. It's the third-biggest lottery win in China. For your information, the biggest win also happened to be in Henan, which stands at a whopping 359 million yuan ($53.9 million)?- the winner claimed the money almost exactly a year ago!

Eerie coincidence?

It looks like lightning does strike twice, at least this year.

Like his Shanghai counterpart, not much is known about the winner. Only that he donated 10.5 million on the spot, dwarfing that of his compatriot and becoming the highest lottery win donation.

He gave away that specific sum since the lucky numbers were announced on Oct 5, according to the man, who goes by the alias Mr He.

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8. Taiwan doctor wins NT$389 million ($12.84 million) lottery

What would you do if your left eyelid has been twitching or throbbing for several days? Go to an eye doctor? Not if you are Chinese.

According to traditional Chinese beliefs, while twitching in your right-side eyelid is often an omen of rainy days ahead, twitching in your left side usually indicates good luck or simply?- money.

That, at least, is the theory espoused by a female Taiwan doctor?- whose details are not fully disclosed, so we can't be sure?- after she landed her big lottery prize.

"My left eyelid has been twitching for the last three days" (before the prize announcement), she is reported to have said.

Apart from luck, she also attributed her success to another factor. "You have to buy lottery, buy it regularly to win," she said. "There's no shortcut." Well, that is surprising.

Next time your left eyelid twitches or throbs, just look around you, for money.

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9. Chongqing woman swaps small change for big bucks in lottery win

You might hesitate to say "keep the change" to vendors in the future.

Using the small changes she kept after buying vegetables, a lucky Chongqing woman hit a 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) jackpot.

Accompanied by five family members, including son, daughter and nieces, she claimed the money on Nov 16.

Just so you know, she also donated her share: 20,000 yuan ($3,000). The rest she had to keep, to buy houses for her children.

In fact, it turns out this was not entirely a fluke for the woman in her 60s. She is reported to have been purchasing lottery tickets for the past three years, all using the odd change from vegetable purchases.

Practice makes perfect: the old wisdom was never lost to the woman.

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10. Men hit 6 '7s’ to win 5 million yuan ($750,000) apiece

What are the odds that a seven-digit lottery?- each number chosen from 0 to 9?- opens with the number "7777077" and is won by not one but two lottery ticket holders?

Let's leave the math aside. (Clue: every combination of numbers has the same odds to win.)

The men, one from Central China's Henan province (again!) and the other from East China's Shandong province, both opted for anonymity.

Which, yes, means we know virtually nothing about the winners.

But it does appear keeping a low profile is a well-publicized, highly regarded and extolled virtue in China.

Well, to those who are still unlucky at winning the lottery: Another "7" is still out there, isn’t it?

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