A woman in China scratched and won a million yuan prize at a lottery stand, only to have the ticket directly seized by the shop owner, who claimed that she hadn't paid before scratching the ticket.
The incident occurred on the evening of the 6th in Huaibei City, Anhui Province, where the woman scratched and won a prize of 1 million yuan (about 590,000 Malaysian ringgit).
According to multiple posts on Weibo, the lottery vendor, wearing grey clothes and shorts, was seen holding the winning ticket and waving at the woman in a black jacket, repeatedly saying, "You can't have it, you can't have it." Onlookers found it unbearable and called the police. Even when officers arrived and took turns advising the vendor, the shop owner stubbornly refused to let go of the scratch ticket.
The Xiangnan Police Station of the Xiangshan Branch of the Huaibei Public Security Bureau, which oversees the area, revealed in an interview on the 7th that the winning woman and the owner eventually reached an agreement, but the details of the negotiation are unknown. The lottery issuing center confirmed that the woman has completed the prize redemption process.
This sparked heated discussion among netizens, with many condemning the lottery owner for being unscrupulous, and questioning who would dare shop there in the future.
Many users pointed out that it's normal to agree with the owner to scratch first and pay later, and that the controversy this time clearly stemmed from the vendor coveting a share of the winnings. To avoid such disputes, people may now have to start paying first before scratching in the future.