China's lottery sales down 13.5 pct in July

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales reached 31.37 billion yuan (about 4.55 billion U.S. dollars) in July, down 13.5 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Wednesday.

Sales of lottery tickets to support the welfare system came in at 12.38 billion yuan in July, an increase of about 1.13 billion yuan or 10 percent from a year ago.

Lottery tickets sold to support the sports industry slumped by 24 percent year on year to 18.99 billion yuan.

In the first seven months, China's lottery ticket sales stood at 213.43 billion yuan, down 0.6 percent year on year, the data showed.

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