China's lottery sales down 13% in September

BEIJING - China's lottery sales continued to fall in September compared with the same time last year, official data showed.

Lottery sales totaled 36.4 billion yuan (about $5.2 billion) in September, slumping 13 percent year on year, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

In breakdown, sales of welfare lottery tickets declined 12 percent from one year earlier to 15.69 billion yuan, while sports lottery sales sank 13.8 percent to 20.7 billion yuan.

In the first nine months of this year, lottery sales fell 17.7 percent year on year to 315.8 billion yuan, the statement said.

Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China and northwest China's Qinghai Province reported rising year-on-year lottery sales in September, according to the MOF.

Under China's lottery management rules, money from lottery ticket sales is used for administrative expenses, public welfare projects and prize money.