Mainland China’s total February sales from official lottery products decreased by 8.9 percent year-on-year to approximately CNY25.66 billion (US$4.07 billion), according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Welfare lottery sales totalled CNY13.12 billion in February, down by 14.2 percent from the prior-year period; while sports lottery sales decreased by 2.5 percent year-on-year to CNY12.54 billion.
The decline in February lottery products sales was largely due to the festive break of the Chinese New Year, the ministry said. China’s State Council has designated the 2018 Chinese New Year festive period as running from February 15, a Thursday; to February 21, a Wednesday.
In February, sales were down in 24 of the 31 provinces and cities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets. The only markets that have shown year-on-year growth in sales of the month were Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Shaanxi.
The sales from official lottery products of January and February combined grew by 11.6 percent year-on-year to CNY63.99 billion. The markets that have shown a growth that outpaced this nationwide growth rate include: Tianjin city, Shanxi, Jilin, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai.
