Vietnamese woman wins $7.7m Vietlott jackpot, the largest ever for a female player

Vietnam Computerized Lottery Company (Vietlott) on Monday afternoon held a ceremony to present a Mega 6/45 jackpot worth VND199,576,277,000 to V.N., a customer in An Giang Province.

The jackpot is the highest-valued Mega 6/45 prize in the past ten years.

Under regulations, lottery winners must pay personal income tax at a rate of 10 percent on the portion of their winnings exceeding VND10 million ($385.55).

V.N. is therefore required to pay approximately VND19.96 billion ($770,000) in tax, leaving her with about VND179.62 billion ($6.9 million) after tax.

Pham Quang Huy, deputy general director of Vietlott, said the company had awarded Mega 6/45 jackpots to 177 customers, including 23 women.

According to Vietlott statistics, V.N. is the 23rd woman to win a Mega 6/45 jackpot and one of 41 female customers to have won jackpots in the Mega 6/45 and Power 6/55 lottery products.

With winnings of more than VND199.5 billion, she has also become the first female customer to win the largest jackpot in Vietlott's history.

According to a post on Vietlott's verified Facebook account, V.N. donated VND5 billion ($192,775) through the Tam Tai Viet Fund at the award ceremony to support social welfare programs and help disadvantaged people across the country.

The post also said V.N. bought the winning ticket out of habit, using VND20,000 (US$0.77) left in her lottery account and randomly generated numbers.

“That evening, my husband and I received a text message notifying us of the win while we were having dinner,” she recalled.

“We thought it was only a small prize, so we did not check the results,” she added.

“It was not until later that night, after finishing the housework, that I finally had time to check and was astonished to discover how much I had won.”

Speaking to Tuoi Tre after receiving her prize, V.N. said she was still trembling with excitement and felt as though she were dreaming.

“When I found out I had won nearly VND200 billion, I was shaking and could hardly believe my eyes,” she recalled.

"I immediately told my husband, but he couldn't believe it either,” she added.

V.N. said she usually buys lottery tickets when jackpots reach high values, hoping to try her luck.

This time, she spent VND20,000 on two tickets purchased through her phone, with the numbers randomly selected by the system.

She never expected to win nearly VND200 billion.

She has informed her family of the good news but has yet to make specific plans for the money.

She said she would continue working as a freelancer as before.