Mainland China’s sales of official lottery products in July rose by 61.9 percent year-on-year to CNY54.64 billion (US$7.99 billion), according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Finance earlier this week. The increase was supported by soaring sales of sports lottery tickets during the month.
Sports lottery sales grew by 117.5 percent year-on-year to nearly CNY35.53 billion last month. Such sales were fuelled by the FIFA World Cup, the Ministry of Finance said. The tournament took place between June 14 and July 15.
Sales of welfare lottery tickets in July rose by 9.7 percent compared to the prior-year period, to approximately CNY19.11 billion.
According to the official data, sales of lottery tickets in the first seven months amounted to nearly CNY299.84 billion, up 25.6 percent compared to the same period last year. Welfare lottery ticket sales reached CNY129.70 billion in the period, an increase of 5.0 percent from a year earlier. Sales of sports lottery tickets for the seven months to July 31 were CNY170.14 billion, up 47.6 percent from the prior-year period.
The official data also showed that sales in July went up in all 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets.
Guangdong continues to be the leading lottery market in mainland China. Lottery ticket sales in that province amounted to approximately CNY27.71 billion in the first seven months of the year, up 18.9 percent year-on-year.
Jiangsu province was ranked second, with sales of lottery tickets reaching CNY26.03 billion, an increase of 35.2 percent from a year earlier. The eastern China province of Shandong was the third largest lottery market in mainland China, with total sales of CNY22.81 billion in the first seven months, an increase of 18.8 percent compared to the prior-year period.
