HONG KONG: A man in southern China threatened to kill himself after he realised he had spent all his savings celebrating, mistakenly believing he had won a lottery prize of 5 million yuan (US$788,000).
The 28-year-old living in Jinjiang in eastern Fujian province was contacted by the police before he took any action to harm himself, the Strait City Daily reported.
A frequent lottery player, the man had spent a lot of time researching how to win in the hope of hitting the jackpot, the report said.
He “calculated” a winning lottery number and bought a ticket last Tuesday, placing it in a drawer. When he checked the winning numbers a week later, he misremembered his own numbers by one digit and thought he had won the jackpot of 5 million yuan.
Overjoyed by the news, he treated a group of relatives and friends at a nightclub, spending all his savings of 5,000 yuan and also overdrawing 3,000 yuan on his credit card.
Only after he woke up the next morning and compared the numbers, did he realise he had made a mistake.
“I felt I’ve lost all face and my hope to continue living,” he was quoted as saying.
He called his girlfriend and told her he was going to commit suicide, the report said.
The girlfriend immediately alerted the police, who rushed to his home and persuaded him not to harm himself.