Vietnamese farmer identified as winner of $4 million lottery jac

The man from the Mekong Delta reportedly bought the 40-cent ticket only hours before the draw of Sunday.

A farmer in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh has been identified as the lucky winner of a massive jackpot prize of VND92.03 billion, or more than $4 million on Sunday.

According to media reports, Vietlott, the operator of the American-style lottery game Mega 6/45, on Monday sent a car to pick up the ticketholder for a trip to Ho Chi Minh City, where he would claim the prize.

It remains unclear at this point if his identity will ever be disclosed.

The man, reportedly from a rural area in the province, bought the VND10,000 ticket when driving to town on Sunday morning, only hours before the 39th draw of the Mega, which debuted in Vietnam in July and has not had a big winner until now.

He checked TV during lunch at home and found that his ticket perfectly matched the winning series 05-21-31-33-38-42.

He is expected to pay a 10 percent income tax, which means he can pocket an amount worth $3.7 million.

Vietlott, or Vietnam Computerized Lottery One Member Limited Liability Company, in January signed an exclusive 18-year contract with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya to launch computerized lottery games.

The Mega 6/45 is the company’s first foray into the market which is available for customers in Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces. Other services will follow.

Mega 6/45 players select six numbers from 1 to 45 and win the jackpot, starting at VND12 billion ($538,000), by matching all six winning numbers from the draw.

The jackpot prize will keep growing until there is a winner. The odds of winning are extremely low, believed to be around one in 8.14 million.

Now with the first winner, the prize will go down to VND12 billion for the next draw on Wednesday.

Traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam have predetermined numbers printed on them, with the highest prize set at VND1.5 billion ($65,900). Vietnam’s average annual income was around $2,100 last year, according to the World Bank.

The country generally does not allow its citizens to gamble, but lottery tickets are popular across the country.