Lottery tickets sale up 29 percent

ANNUAL sales of China Welfare Lottery tickets hit 60.3 billion yuan (US$8.15 billion) as of Friday, up 29 percent year on year, the country's lottery watchdog said yesterday.

The sales have raised nearly 20.7 billion yuan for the country's public welfare, said a China Welfare Lottery Management Center spokesman.

Half the money has been turned over to central government coffers. The remainder was used for social welfare purposes, mainly for the social security fund to cover its deficit.

As China's first lottery launched in June 1987, sales of the tickets represented 63 percent of the country's entire lottery market.