Mainland China’s total sales from official lottery products increased by 6.6 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016 to approximately RMB289.74 billion (US$42.74 billion), according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Welfare lottery sales totalled RMB151.34 billion in the January to September period, up by 1.6 percent from the prior-year period, while sports lottery sales jumped 12.6 percent year-on-year to RMB138.40 billion.
In the first nine months of 2016, sales were up in almost all of the 31 provinces and cities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets. Total lottery sales soared in Tibet during the period, with an increase of 42.6 percent in year-on-year terms. Strong growth rates were also recorded in the neighbouring Qinghai province and in Hubei province, with sales up by 22.5 percent and 31.4 percent respectively in year-on-year terms.
Combined sales for the two lottery systems in September amounted to RMB32.07 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.3 percent. Welfare lottery sales increased by 6.7 percent to reach about RMB16.54 billion, while sales of sports lottery products rose by 14.4 percent to RMB15.53 billion.
Online sales of mainland China lottery products are currently suspended, a move described by the authorities as temporary but which has hit several companies. In April last year, eight Chinese government agencies confirmed a suspension of what they described as “unauthorised online lottery sales services”.
