The court has ruled that a Chinese man, who concealed his multi-million lottery prize from his wife, must now provide compensation to his former partner.

In 2021, a man identified by the surname Zhou was the fortunate winner of an impressive sum of 10 million yuan (£1.2 million).

Rather than disclosing the good fortune to his spouse, Zhou chose to keep his prize concealed and continued with his life as if nothing had changed.

As a result, when the lottery prize was deposited into his bank account, Zhou did not use the funds to celebrate with a romantic vacation or even indulge in a bottle of wine to mark the occasion with his spouse.

Instead, Zhou opted to transfer two million yuan to his sister and an additional 700,000 yuan to his former spouse to assist her in purchasing an apartment for herself.

At some point, Zhou's spouse uncovered his concealed wealth. The means by which she learned of the money's existence is unclear, but upon discovering it, she allegedly initiated divorce proceedings and sued him to obtain her share of the winnings.

The identity of Zhou's spouse is undisclosed, but she requested that the court award her two-thirds of the after-tax amount.

As Zhou's legal spouse, the woman was entitled to half of the winnings, but she requested a larger portion from the court due to Zhou's deliberate attempts to conceal the prize from her.

In Wenzhou, Zhejiang, a court sided with Zhou's former spouse and ordered him to compensate her with 2.7 million yuan.

To raise funds for welfare and cultural initiatives throughout the nation, the Chinese government conducts national lotteries. Prize winners are subject to taxation on their earnings.

Surprisingly, this is not an uncommon occurrence in China.

As recently as last year, a different man went to great lengths to conceal his lottery prize from his wife and child, including donning a large yellow cartoon character outfit to claim his winnings.

"Mr. Li", whose real name was not disclosed, stated that he concealed his winnings from his family to avoid making them idle, as a result of the prize money.

"Mr. Li" claimed a substantial 219 million yuan (£26 million) in lottery winnings, which he gathered in disguise at the lottery office in Nanning, located in the southern province of Guangxi.

"I did not tell my wife and child for fear that they would be too complacent and would not work or work hard in the future," he told Nanning Evening News in November.

It is unknown whether "Mr. Li's" spouse or child has learned of his jackpot winnings.