A South Korean Just Set Vietnam's Foreign Lottery-Winner Record

A lottery winner does not always live in the country printed on the ticket.

On July 21, Vietnam's state-owned lottery operator, Vietlott, awarded more than VND102.8 billion, about $3.9 million, to a South Korean national identified as K.S.H. It is the largest Vietnamese lottery prize ever claimed by a foreign national.

The winning Power 6/55 ticket matched 09, 17, 20, 33, 41, and 42 in the July 11 drawing. It was purchased at a retailer in Bac Ninh Province, where the winner works for a foreign-invested company.

The international record is the headline. The more useful story is how much changes when a familiar six-number game crosses a border: prize scale, taxes, ticket access, and even the way a winner verifies the result.

Power 6/55 sits in an interesting middle lane

Power 6/55 asks players to match six numbers from a field of 55. The top-prize odds are about 1 in 28.9 million.

Those odds are still extremely long. But they sit in a different universe from Powerball's roughly 1-in-292.2-million jackpot odds. The tradeoff is prize size. A nearly $4 million jackpot can transform a life, but it will not compete with a $600 million American billboard.

That is why game comparison needs more than one number. Check the LuckMaker Score at luckmaker3000.com/games before you play. Our proprietary 0-100 game rating compares ticket price, odds, prize structure, jackpot size, and current conditions.

LuckMaker covers 98 games across 25 U.S. states and 9 international markets. That wider board helps players see why a smaller international jackpot can still be a compelling game—and why “largest jackpot” does not automatically mean “best fit.”

The winner's buying habit deserves context

K.S.H. reportedly bought Vietlott tickets about twice a week. He usually purchased 20 to 30 at a time and increased that to around 50 when the jackpot climbed.

That detail makes the story dramatic, but it is not a strategy to copy blindly. Buying more lines gives a player more combinations in one drawing, while raising the cost at exactly the same pace. It does not turn a long-shot game into a predictable one.

The healthier takeaway is to set a fixed entertainment budget before the jackpot starts influencing the decision. Then compare the LuckMaker Score and stay inside that limit.

If you want clean combinations without leaning on birthdays or favorite patterns, use LuckMaker's Lucky Number Generator. Random picks do not change the probability of any valid line. They do help remove the temptation to treat a personal pattern as a forecast.

Crossing a border changes the tax story

The winner did not receive the full headline amount.

Vietnamese regulations required more than VND10.2 billion, roughly $390,000, in personal income tax. Reports say the tax was calculated at 10% of the prize amount above VND20 million and deducted before payment. His take-home prize was more than VND92.5 billion, or about $3.5 million.

He also donated VND1.5 billion, about $57,000, to social-welfare programs through the Tam Tai Viet Foundation.

The tax lesson travels well. A jackpot amount, a cash payout, and a winner's spendable balance are rarely the same figure. U.S. winners face federal tax and may owe state or local tax. International games follow their own rules.

Before building a fantasy budget around a major prize, use the Lottery Tax Calculator. For a foreign win, also get qualified advice in every country where you may have a filing obligation.

Verification is part of winning

K.S.H. said he checked the numbers several times using Vietlott's website and mobile app before believing the result.

That reaction is relatable. It is also a solid routine. Check every ticket against an official source, then verify it again before making any announcement or signing anything beyond the ticket itself.

LuckMaker's results page makes routine checking easier across the games we track. Ticket Vault adds a digital record of what you bought and whether you checked it. The physical ticket remains essential for a retail purchase, so protect it and follow the issuing lottery's claim instructions.

Vietlott says K.S.H. is only the fourth foreign national to win a top prize in its Mega 6/45 or Power 6/55 games. His record-setting claim is rare, but the player lesson is universal.

Compare games instead of billboards. Use random numbers without pretending they predict the draw. Track every ticket in Ticket Vault. Check the results carefully. And calculate the real after-tax prize before the celebration gets ahead of the math.