China's lottery sales surge in May via sports events boom

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales soared 19.8 percent year on year to around 57 billion yuan (about 7.95 billion U.S. dollars) in May, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Wednesday.

The ministry credited this surge to two factors -- a low comparison base in the same period last year and an increase in sports events in May, which boosted sports lottery ticket sales.

Sales of lottery tickets that support the country's welfare system reached about 18.53 billion yuan last month, marking an increase of 8.6 percent from a year earlier.

Sports lottery ticket sales jumped 26 percent year on year to 38.51 billion yuan in May.

From January to May, lottery tickets worth 263.37 billion yuan were sold nationwide -- up 4.3 percent year on year.

Under China's lottery management rules, funds raised from ticket sales are used to cover administrative expenses, support public welfare projects and fund prizes.