Chinese lottery sales rise 24.4% in April

The Welfare Lottery brought in CNY11.16bn of the total revenue, a drop of 6.2% year on year, while the Sports Lottery totaled at CNY17.93bn, an increase of 56.3%.

Instant gaming made up CNY2.40bn of Welfare Lottery’s revenue and CNY2.43bn of the Sports Lottery’s revenue, an increase of 111.0% and 103.1% year on year.

Keno games brought in CNY1.5bn for the Welfare Lottery, 14.2% of its total revenue.

Sports wagering revenue accumulated by the Sports Lottery was CNY9.5bn, a rise of 2119.1% from CNY432m year on year.

Video lottery sales were recorded as nil for the Welfare Lottery and CNY80,000 for the Sports lottery, a 166.6% rise from CNY30,000 the previous April.

Lottery sales mostly decreased compared to April 2020. Sales in Shanxi decreased by 19.6%, while sales in Xinjiang fell by 26.5% year on year.

Also in April, China increased enforcements on illegal cross-border gambling activity. According to the Ministry of Public Security, police operations since 2020 have uncovered 17,000 cross-border gambling incidents and apprehended more than 110,000 suspects.