Liu was found to be the real winner and finally received the prize and several people were sentenced to jail, including the head of the local sports lottery center for dereliction of duty. After that the government discontinued the scratch lotteries.

The high-profile scandal led to increasing calls for lawmakers to introduce regulations for lottery supervision.

However, China only has a provisional regulation for the management of lottery distributions and sales, issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2002. Some observers are betting on the law to break the monopoly of the China Welfare Lottery Administrative Center and the sports lottery administrative center of the China General Administration of Sport, the only two legitimate lottery issuers in China.

The law is expected to be introduced next year at the earliest.

However, one of the biggest hurdles thwarting China's lottery market is the so-called hate-the-rich mentality. The increasing prize amounts have drawn more buyers but it has also brought trouble to the top winners in a country where the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. The security of winners is always an issue.

Most winners claim their prizes with their faces covered and sometimes accompanied by bodyguards.

One exception is a lottery buyer in Wenzhou who gave his surname as Lin. Lin claimed 51 million yuan in prizes in June himself without covering his face but otherwise stayed away from media spotlight.

Large crowds swarm to a square near Changsha Railway Station in Hunan province to buy scratch-to-win lottery tickets in 2004.

Editor:Du Xiaodan