An unidentified resident of Chongqing municipality won 82.34 million yuan (US$11.76 million) in a lottery on Wednesday.

The lucky person spent 630 yuan (US$91) on the tickets, bought from a lottery outlet in Changshou district about 14:34 PM and became a multimillionaire seven hours later, Chongqing Sports Lottery Center said.

Since last May, 93 people have won prizes of more than 5 million yuan.

The identity of the new winner is unknown, and is not likely to be known, as most winners prefer to remain anonymous.

China gave the green light to the lottery industry in 1987. Proceeds go toward the development of public sports facilities, education, and health care for the handicapped.

Lottery laws stipulate that a minimum of 35 percent of receipts must be used for public welfare.

Since 1998, 191 million yuan has been spent on building public sport facilities, benefiting people living in the urban and rural areas.

The country's total lottery sales exceeded 100 billion yuan last year, an increase of 18 billion yuan or 20 percent over 2006, breaking a 20-year record.

A number of people across the country became millionaires in the past years. This has stimulated the people's appetite to buy lottery tickets.

An undergraduate student in Jiangsu province who wanted to drop out of university after winning 5 million yuan sparked much debate on the Internet.

China plans to launch an instant lottery with an Olympic theme next month, the Sports Lottery Administration Center, said. A trial run started in Shandong province last month.

The top prize will be 250,000 yuan.

(China Daily April 25, 2008)