BEIJING, Dec. 17 -- China's lottery sales reached 279.05 billion yuan (45.66 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2013, up 18.9 percent year on year, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.

During this period, welfare lottery sales reached 158.89 billion yuan, an increase of 16.9 percent year on year, and sports lottery sales rose 21.7 percent year on year to 120.16 billion yuan.

The ministry attributed the jump in sales to new lottery products going on sale, promotion of quiz-style games and more outlets for online lottery games.

Money raised through lotteries is used for the jackpot, management fees and public lottery funds

Lottery sales in November alone reached 27.42 billion yuan, up 15.6 percent year on year. Welfare lottery sales last month hit 15.34 billion yuan, up 19.2 percent year on year. Sports lottery sales in November rose 11.4 percent year on year to reach 12.07 billion yuan.