A young man surnamed Zhu in East China's Jiangsu province received a 256 million yuan ($40 million) sports lottery jackpot on June 27 in Nanjing, the largest ever in China for the sports lottery, news portal Sina.com reported on July 5.

The man and his wife, both wearing sunglasses, took home nearly 206 million yuan after taxes and donated 5 million yuan to Project Hope.

Zhu's age, occupation and hometown were not revealed.

Zhu found out that he won the prize on June 28, but he didn't receive the money immediately, the report said.

"We take the money as a heavenly gift and face it calmly," the winner was quoted as saying. He said the money won't affect his life and that the couple will use it in their future careers and to do charity work.

Zhu started buying lottery tickets one and a half years ago. He said that buying lottery tickets is also a way of contributing to charity organizations, according to the report.

The previous largest sports lottery jackpot was 177 million yuan. That prize was won by a Chongqing resident, who donated 5 million yuan to build a dining hall for children left behind in rural areas by parents who work in cities.

Lottery sales in China rose more than 26 percent year on year in May to reach nearly 24 billion yuan, with sales in Jiangsu province increasing the most across the country, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Finance.