World Cup boosts Chinese sports lottery sales

BEIJING - China's sports lottery sales have been boosted by the FIFA World Cup.

Daily sales were less than 100 million yuan ($16.39 million) before the World Cup but more than 400 million yuan since the event started on June 12, according to the China Sports Lottery Administration Center in an article in Tuesday's China Securities Journal.

Leading online lottery agent 500.com is making more lottery sales every day, roughly three to five times the daily average before the World Cup, according to Pan Zhengming, CFO of 500.com Ltd.

It is common for an increase in sales during the tournament. During the 2010 World Cup, sales in China hit 4 billion yuan, up 500 percent year on year and 400 percent month on month, according to Huatai Securities.

According to official data, total lottery sales, including welfare and sports, rose 18.3 percent year on year to nearly 310 billion yuan in 2013. Online lottery sales hit 42 billion yuan, accounting for 13.58 percent of the total.

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