Lottery sales in mainland China reached RMB37.2 billion (US$6.05 billion) in July, up by 52.7 percent from a year before, show data released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance.
That was mostly due to a 92.9-percent increase in sports lottery sales judged year-on-year. Sports lottery sales for the month amounted to RMB19.8 billion, fuelled by the FIFA World Cup, the Ministry of Finance said. The tournament took place between June 12 and July 13.
Welfare lottery sales increased by 23.5 percent in July from the same period one year earlier, to RM17.4 billion.
Lottery sales in mainland China are up by 23.9 percent in the seven months to July 31, to RMB215.6 billion, official data show.
Welfare lottery sales for the first seven months of the year were RMB115.9 billion, up by 16.6 percent in year-on-year terms. Sports lottery sales for the same period stood at RMB99.7 billion, an increase of 33.5 percent.
Data from the Ministry of Finance show lottery sales in all provinces of mainland China increased during the first seven months of 2014 in comparison with one year before.
Regulated lottery products were first introduced in mainland China in 1987. There are only two lottery operators in the market, the China Welfare Lottery Issuance and Administration Centre and the China Sports Lottery Administration Centre. Both are government-run.
More than RMB18 billion changed hands in cases of illegal football gambling detected by the authorities in mainland China during the 2014 FIFA World Cup said Xinhua, an official news agency, on July 12.
