Mainland China’s sales of official lottery products in May increased by 8.9 percent in year-on-year terms, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Total sales in May were approximately RMB37.70 billion (US$5.51 billion), the Ministry of Finance announced. That was however a decrease of 1.4 percent from the previous month.
Welfare lottery sales decreased by 0.8 percent year-on-year, to RMB18.23 billion, while sports lottery sales rose by 19.8 percent to RMB19.47 billion.
In May, sales were up in 22 of the 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets. Guangdong province, which last year reported the highest combined sales of welfare and sports lottery tickets, saw its sales decrease 4.3 percent year-on-year in May. It was still the largest-grossing market last month, with total lottery sales worth approximately RMB3.78 billion.
For the first five months of 2017, total sales of lottery products in mainland China increased 6.8 percent from the prior-year period, to about RMB171.19 billion. Welfare lottery sales totalled RMB88.29 billion in the five months to May 31, up by 2.8 percent in year-on-year terms, while sports lottery sales increased 11.4 percent to nearly RMB82.90 billion.
Guangdong continues to be the leading lottery market in mainland China. Combined sales of welfare and sports lottery tickets reached nearly RMB16.68 billion in the January to May period, up 1.0 percent from a year earlier.
