Chinese sports lottery sales rise 9 pct

The country’s official sports lottery bested the welfare lottery and posted sales for US$6.5 billion in April, a nine per cent increase year-on-year.

China.- Overall sports lottery sales in China posted a nine per cent increase in its sales as they reached US$6.5 billion. The segment overtook its welfare lottery counterpart and has reached US$23.1 billion, a 9.3 per cent increase for the year to date in comparison to 2017.

While April’s sports lottery operations rose 12.7 per cent year-on-year to US$3.4 billion, welfare lottery only achieved US$3.06 billion, up 5.3 per cent year-on-year. The sports-related business surpassed the figures posted by its counterpart, which has traditionally led the way in sales across China.

On June 14th the 2018 FIFA World Cup will begin in Russia and it is expected that sports lottery sales will peak, just as they did in 2014 when the previous tournament was played. Back then – and during the 2016 UEFA European Championship too – sales nearly doubled, even though Beijing enforced a “temporary” suspension of online lottery sales in March 2014, which still holds until now.