China lottery soars

News on 10 Jun 2011

China’s welfare lottery sales hit 50.16 billion yuan ($7.74 billion) as of June 5 this year, up 30.61 percent year-on-year, the Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center said on Thursday.
This year’s welfare lottery sales are expected to exceed 100 billion yuan, compared with last year’s total sales of 90.4 billion yuan, reports The China Daily.
The lottery raised more than 15.2 billion yuan for public welfare funding, official statistics showed.
Half of the country’s public welfare funds go to China’s treasury, while the other half is disbursed to local governments across the country. The funds are then allocated to social welfare programs and charities.
Computerised lottery sales hit 34.44 billion yuan, accounting for 68.66 percent of the total, up 16 percent year-on-year.

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