China's lottery sales up 18.6 pct in February

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales reached 22.48 billion yuan (about 3.54 billion U.S. dollars) in February, up 18.6 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

Sales of lottery tickets to support the welfare system totaled 9.38 billion yuan in February, up 19.7 percent year on year.

Lottery tickets sold to support the sports industry stood at 13.1 billion yuan, up 17.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the ministry.

In the first two months, lottery sales amounted to 53.3 billion yuan, which involve 23.36 billion yuan of welfare lottery sales and 29.94 billion yuan of sports lottery sales.

Under China's lottery management rules, funds raised from ticket sales are used for administrative expenses, public welfare projects, and to fund prizes.