China's lottery sales rise in June

BEIJING - China's lottery ticket sales rose 14.5 percent year on year to 24.75 billion yuan ($4.02 billion) in June, according to the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

Among them, welfare lottery sales reached 14.23 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales of sports lottery tickets surged 15.8 percent to 10.51 billion yuan.

The ministry attributed the jump in sales to the promotion of quiz-style games and more outlets for online lottery games.

In the January-June period, total lottery sales rose 16 percent year on year to 149.7 billion yuan, the ministry data also showed.

According to China's regulations on lottery management, money raised through lotteries is used for the jackpot, management fees and public lottery funds.