Chinese lottery: sales up 2.7% in August

Sales reached CNY54.3bn (US$7.7bn).

China.- The Ministry of Finance has reported that lottery ticket sales were CNY54.3bn (US$7.7bn) in August. That’s an increase of 2.7 per cent in year-on-year terms but a decline of 0.55 per cent sequentially. Welfare Lottery sales were CNY17.7bn (US$2.5bn), down 4.9 per cent year-on-year while sports lottery sales amounted to CNY36.6bn (US$5.5bn), up 6.8 per cent year-on-year.

According to authorities, sales dropped after the end of the European Cup. However, most provinces saw an increase in lottery sales compared to the same period last year. The largest were in Zhejiang, Anhui, Shaanxi and Hebei, where sales were up by CNY400m (US$57m), CNY180m (US$26.5m), CNY160m (US$22.8m), and CNY130m (US$18.5m) respectively.

The sales of lottery numbers decreased by 3.5 per cent year-on-year to CNY14.7bn (US$2bn). The sales of instant lottery tickets were CNY8.2bn (US$1.7bn), down 31.1 per cent year-on-year while sales of Keno lottery tickets increased 13.7 per cent to CNY3.937bn (US$560m). Sales of lottery numbers, guessing, instant lottery tickets, and Keno lottery tickets accounted for 27.1 per cent, 50.4 per cent, 15.3 per cent, and 7.2 per cent of the total lottery sales, respectively.

Cumulatively, Chinese lottery sales for the first eight months of the year were up 11.1 per cent in year-on-year terms at CNY417bn (US$59.4bn). The sales of welfare lottery agencies amounted to CNY140.3bn (US$19.9bn), up 14 per cent year-on-year.