China lottery sales slip to eight-month low in October

The figure was comfortably higher than CNY29.72bn in October of last year. However, it was down 10.3% from CNY52.77bn in lottery sales reported in China in September.

It was also the lowest monthly sales total since CNY41.83bn was posted back in February.

Breaking down the October performance, sports lottery sales were 70.1% up year-on-year at CNY31.85bn. A further CNY15.49bn came from welfare lottery sales, a rise of 40.9%.

Betting leads the way in October as sales top CNY32.23bn

As for the type of games consumers were playing, betting games remained most popular with players in October. These games accounted for CNY18.98bn in sales, up 67.4%.

Digital lottery sales were also 15.0% higher to CNY13.70bn during the month. However, it was the instant lottery market that reported the highest level of growth. Sales here were 167.6% up year-on-year at CNY11.44bn in October. 

It was also noted that keno games sales reached CNY3.22bn, up 47.1%. Video lottery sales climbed 8.0% to CNY90,000.

In terms of geographical performance during the month, China noted growth within all its provinces. 

China year-to-date sales reach CNY

Looking at the year-to-date, total lottery sales in the 10 months to the end of October were CNY475.88bn. This was 53.0% up from the same point in 2022.

Sports lottery led the way with CNY315.85bn in total sales, a rise of 68.2% from last year. Welfare lottery sales also increased by 29.9% to CNY160.03bn.

Considering game types, betting generated the most sales in the period at CNY203.92bn. This was 90.8% more than in the previous year and accounted for 42.8% of all sales in China.

Digital lottery sales increased 12.2% to CNY143.45bn and instant lottery sales jumped 87.8% to CNY98.23bn. A further CNY30.38bn came from keno sales, up 12.2%, while CNY1.3m was attributed to video lottery sales.

Meanwhile, as was the case in October, lottery sales in all provinces across China increased year-on-year.