China lottery sales remain slack in October

BEIJING - Growth in sales of Chinese lottery tickets remained slack last month, rising 6 percent year on year to 21.54 billion yuan ($3.42 billion), the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

It was the third month in which the growth rate has stayed under two-digit growth number since August. Sales growth stood at 10.9 percent and 23.8 percent in July and June, respectively.

Sales of welfare lottery tickets climbed 6.4 percent year on year to 12.02 billion yuan in October, while sports lottery ticket sales increased 5.3 percent to 9.52 billion yuan, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website.

In the first 10 months of 2012, lottery tickets worth 211.02 billion yuan were sold across the country, 18.5 percent more than a year earlier.

The money raised through lotteries is divided into three parts in China: the jackpot, lottery management fees and public lottery funds, under the country's regulations on lottery management.