Sales of official lottery products in mainland China in the first six months of 2018 stood at nearly CNY245.2 billion (US$36.0 billion), up by 19.6 percent compared to the prior-year period, according to data released by the Chinese Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
Sales of welfare lottery tickets totalled approximately CNY110.6 billon in the first half of the year, an increase of 4.2 percent compared to the same period last year. Sports lottery sales increased by 36.1 percent year-on-year to slightly above CNY134.6 billion.
The official data also showed that during the six months to June 30 sales went up in 29 of 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets.
Guangdong continues to be the leading lottery market in mainland China. The province’s lottery ticket sales in the first half of 2018 stood at nearly CNY23.0 billion, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier.
Guangdong was followed by Jiangsu province, where total lottery ticket sales for the first six months were approximately CNY20.9 billion, an increase of 28.2 percent year-on-year.
The eastern Chinese province of Shandong was the third largest market for lottery products in the first half, according to Wednesday’s data. Total lottery ticket sales went up 11.5 percent year-on-year to nearly CNY18.6 billion in the reporting period.
For the month of June, sales of lottery tickets soared 73.2 percent year-on-year, to CNY58.6 billion.
That was mostly due to a nearly 147-percent increase in sports lottery sales judged year-on-year. Sports lottery sales for the month amounted to CNY39.5 billion, fuelled by the FIFA World Cup, the Ministry of Finance said. The tournament took place between June 14 and July 15.
Welfare lottery sales reached approximately CNY19.1 billion last month, up 7.1 percent year-on-year.
