Economy

China's Q1 lottery sales up 34%

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-19 09:50

BEIJING - China's first-quarter lottery sales rose 33.8 percent year-on-year to reach 46.31 billion yuan ($7.09 billion), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Monday.

Related readings:  China's February lottery sales up 30.2%  China's lottery sales up 26.1% in Jan  China's annual welfare lottery sales hit 96b yuan in 2010  China lottery sales up 26% last year

Sales of welfare lottery tickets in the first three months jumped 34.4 percent year-on-year to 27.15 billion yuan while sales of sports lottery tickets rose 32.9 percent year-on-year to 19.17 billion yuan.

In March alone, lottery sales reached 19.01 billion yuan, up 43.5 percent from the same period last year, the MOF said in a statement on its website.

According to China's Regulations on Lottery Management, funds generated through lotteries are divided into three parts: the jackpot, lottery management fees, and lottery public funds which should be spent as stipulated on financing social welfare causes.