Mainland China’s sales of official lottery products in May fell by 12.7 percent year-on-year to CNY35.52 billion (US$5.16 billion), according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
The sale of official lottery tickets fell in May for the fourth consecutive month in year-on-year terms. Welfare lottery sales declined by 15.7 percent to CNY16.49 billion last month, while sports lottery sales fell by 10.0 percent to approximately CNY19.03 billion.
In May, sales were down in 28 of the 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets.
For the first five months of 2019, sales of lottery tickets was down by 4.7 percent from the prior-year period to nearly CNY177.83 billion. Welfare lottery sales decreased by 10.6 percent year-on-year to approximately CNY81.84 billion, while sports lottery sales recorded a slight increase of 1.0 percent to CNY95.99 billion.
The biggest lottery market in mainland China is still Guangdong province, where total sales of lottery products in the January to May period declined by 9.3 percent from a year earlier to CNY16.46 billion.
Guangdong was followed by Jiangsu province, with combined sales of welfare and sports lottery tickets slightly above CNY15.07 billion, down 1.2 percent compared to the prior year. Shandong province in eastern China was ranked third, with aggregate ticket sales of CNY14.43 billion, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, according to official data.
