China's lottery sales up 6 pct in October

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales rose 6 percent year on year to 46.89 billion yuan (about 6.62 billion U.S. dollars) in October, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Monday.

Sales of lottery tickets that support the country's welfare system reached about 15 billion yuan last month, marking an increase of 3.4 percent from a year earlier.

Lottery ticket sales that support the sports industry rose 7.3 percent year on year to 31.89 billion yuan during the period, the ministry said.

From January to October, around 523 billion yuan worth of lottery tickets were sold nationwide, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.9 percent.

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