Official figures indicate that the value of lottery sales in mainland China fell 40.1 percent year-on-year in July to nearly CNY32.73 billion (US$4.57 billion). The result represented the sixth consecutive month of decline in such sales, according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
The ministry attributed the steepness of the annual fall in July to lottery sales having been unusually high a year earlier, when the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament – an event held once every four years – had boosted sales. Changes nationally in China’s lottery sales rules – implemented since early this year – were also cited by the ministry as factors that had “continuously” impacted the country’s lottery sales in 2019.
The official figures indicated that sports lottery sales fell to nearly CNY17.69 billion in July, a 50.2-percent decline compared to a year earlier. July sales of welfare lottery tickets fell by 21.3 percent to nearly CNY15.05 billion, the figures indicate.
In the first seven months of 2019, lottery sales of all types in mainland China amounted to CNY245.33 billion, 18.2 percent down compared to the same period in 2018, said the finance ministry. Welfare lottery sales decreased by 13 percent year-on-year to approximately CNY112.80 billion, while sports lottery sales recorded a decline of 22.1 percent to nearly CNY132.53 billion.
Sichuan in China’s southwest was the only province where total sales of lottery products grew in the first seven months of this year. According to the ministry’s data, Sichuan’s lottery sales totalled CNY11 billion for the January to July period, up by nearly 12 percent.
Guangdong remained China’s biggest provincial market for lottery sales, according to the July data. Total such sales in the first seven months of this year nonetheless declined 18 percent from a year earlier, to CNY22.72 billion.
Jiangsu province had the second-largest ticket sales, with those for the welfare and sports lottery combined being approximately CNY20.84 billion in July. The tally was nonetheless down nearly 20 percent compared to the prior year. Shandong province in eastern China was ranked third, with aggregate ticket sales of CNY19.80 billion, down 13.19 percent year-on-year, according to official data.
