Official figures indicate that the value of lottery sales in mainland China fell 18.5 percent year-on-year in August to CNY34.08 billion (US$4.77 billion). The result represented the seventh consecutive month of decline in such sales, according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
The official figures indicated that sports lottery sales fell to nearly CNY19.48 billion in August, a 19.0-percent decline compared to a year earlier. August sales of welfare lottery tickets fell by 17.9 percent to nearly CNY14.61 billion, the figures indicate.
In the first eight months of 2019, lottery sales of all types in mainland China amounted to CNY279.41 billion, 18.2 percent down compared to the same period in 2018, said the finance ministry. Welfare lottery sales decreased by 13.6 percent year-on-year to approximately CNY127.41 billion, while sports lottery sales recorded a decline of 21.7 percent to nearly CNY152.0 billion.
Sichuan in China’s southwest was the only province where total sales of lottery products grew in the first eight months of this year. According to the ministry’s data, Sichuan’s lottery sales totalled CNY12.54 billion for the January to August period, up by nearly 10.8 percent.
