In Asia, there is a lot of interest in the lottery. While Asian countries have their specific cultural differences, there is also a general reverence for luck and karma that can be seen in the way that these nations handle gambling. The result is a number of popular asian lottery games that are played worldwide by players from all over the world.

One such example comes from China. While the Communist Party doesn’t particularly like gambling, it does run state-sanctioned lotteries to help fund welfare programmes. The country’s Sports and Welfare lotteries last year took in 511bn yuan in ticket sales, nearly as much as America’s various state lotteries earned combined. Some of that money goes to the winners themselves, but most is funneled back to state coffers and into favoured public causes such as public sports facilities and programmes to help the poor and elderly.

One Chinese winner, identified only as Mr Li, cracked a major jackpot in the latter category. He won a record 219m yuan ($29.9m) and kept the news to himself out of fear that his family would become lazy. When he did collect his prize at the Guangxi Welfare Lottery Distribution Center in Nanning on October 24, he was required to wear a bright yellow Fudou costume, as is customary for lottery winners, so that his identity could be concealed.