BEIJING - Lottery sales in China rose 26.1 percent year on year in May to reach 23.62 billion yuan ($3.75 billion), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Wednesday.

The growth was slightly down from the 26.4-percent increase recorded in April, MOF data showed.

Welfare lottery ticket sales reached 14.01 billion yuan in May, up 29.8 percent from a year ago, while sales of sports lottery tickets gained 21 percent year on year to 9.6 billion yuan.

The MOF said the increase came as new lottery games have gone on sale and sales outlets for quiz-type games have expanded. There were also more sporting events in the month.

The May figure raised total lottery sales in the first five months by 28.4 percent year on year to 107.44 billion yuan, according to the MOF.

The MOF said all Chinese provincial-level regions, excluding Beijing, reported year-on-year gains in lottery sales during the January-May period.

During the period, the biggest increase was recorded by Jiangsu province, where sales rose by 4.74 billion yuan from the same period last year.

According to China's Regulations on Lottery Management, money raised through lotteries is divided into three parts: the jackpot, lottery management fees and lottery public funds.