2004 Chinese lottery scandal

In 2004, a scandal occurred when lottery prizes were not given to the winners. The scheme involved getting winner's lottery tickets declared forgeries and awarding prizes to accomplices.The fraud scheme in Xi'an received nationwide news coverage when it was uncovered. The scandal resulted in the arrest of five people and several government officials being removed.

Shaanxi Provincial Sports Lottery Centre refused to give the winner, Liu Liang, his prize claiming that he held a fake lottery ticket. In May, Yang Yongming admitted while in police custody that he colluded with the others to defraud winners.

In June, Liu threatened to jump off a billboard if he wasn't given a BMW325i and cash. The lottery center authorities declared that Liu's ticket was valid and apologized. The car and 120,000 yuan (US$15,000) in cash was given Liu.

In December 2004, eleven people who tried to defraud Chinese lottery winners by having their tickets declared forgeries were sentenced to prison terms of up to 19 years. Yang Yongming was sentenced to 19 years by the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court. Jia Anqing, former director of the sports bureau, was sentenced to 13 years. Zhang Yongmin, a provincial official, was sentenced to seven years. Four more officials and five outsiders were also convicted and eceived terms ranging from six months to 17 years.