China lottery sales spike 10.2% in April

The ministry of finance noted that growth in lottery sales had fallen, but added that this had begun to stabilise.

April’s total was down a negligible amount compared to March, when sales came to CNY55.60bn.

The Sports Lottery accounted for CNY36.69bn of this, up by CNY1.96bn or 5.7% year-on-year. The Welfare Lottery made up the remaining CNY18.76bn, which represented a much higher jump of 20.3% compared to April 2023.

For January to April, sales totalled at CNY204.92bn, a rise of 17.0% compared to the same period last year. Sports Lottery sales accounted for more than half of this at CNY134.96bn – a 12.7% increase – while the Welfare Lottery sales totalled at CNY69.96bn, up 26.3% yearly.

Sales by type and region

The month saw growth across the board. Instant lottery sales hiked 11.7% to CNY9.98bn, while lotto digital generated CNY16.34bn, up 5.5% yearly.

Betting, meanwhile, grew 9.7% compared to April 2023 to CNY25.46bn. But it was Keno lottery that had the most significant boost, jumping 36.8% to CNY3.67bn.

For the period of January to April, lotto digital has generated CNY59.26bn in sales – a boost of 10.1% yearly. Betting sales rose slightly by 2.4% to CNY83.40bn for the four months, and instant lottery garnered an impressive 60.9% year-on-year increase in sales to CNY48.95bn. A similarly large growth was recorded for Keno lottery between January and April this year, up 40.5% to CNY3.83bn.

Turning to sales by region, the ministry of finance reported that lottery sales were up in all provinces during April. This is with the exception of Hubei and Tianjin.

As expected, Guangdong experienced the largest increase in sales, growing by CNY550m in April. This was followed by Hunan and Hebei, which saw lottery sales increase by CNY390m and CNY380m respectively.

Lottery sales in Xinjiang jumped CNY330m, landing the province in fourth place.