BEIJING -- Growth in sales of Chinese lottery tickets continued to slow in September, rising 4.4 percent year on year to 20.5 billion yuan, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

The growth was milder than the 5-percent increase in August, according to MOF figures revealed in a statement.

Sales of welfare lottery tickets climbed 8.9 percent year-on-year to 11.8 billion yuan ($1.89 billion)?in September, while sports lottery ticket sales fell 1.1 percent to 8.7 billion yuan, the statement said.

In the first nine months of 2012, lottery tickets worth 189.5 billion yuan were sold across the country, up 20.1 percent from a year earlier.

The money raised through lotteries is divided into three parts in China: the jackpot, lottery management fees and public lottery funds, under the country's regulations on lottery management.