China Sports Lottery. Photo: IC

A man in Southwest China, who was on the run for 13 years, continued his habit of buying mass quantities of lottery tickets, which is apparently why he committed his alleged crime of embezzling more than 700,000 yuan($98,674).

The man, surnamed Li, was arrested in Shanghai on Sunday by police from Yongren county, Yunnan Province.

Li was wanted for embezzling money from his former company in 2006. At that time local police found a large number of lottery tickets in Li's room, and police assumed the company's money was spent on lottery tickets. When he was finally arrested, police found software on Li's computer that was supposed to help choose the winning lottery numbers.

Li told police if he had won the jackpot, all his problems would be solved, according to a video posted by Pear Video. 

Yunnan police are continuing their investigation.

 While gambling is outlawed in China, people with gambling addictions can become obsessed with winning a lottery, which is designed to support a good cause.  

"My friend spent all of his savings on lottery tickets hoping to win a big prize and marry his girlfriend. How pathetic," a Weibo user wrote.