China lottery sales set a record in 2023

In 2023, Chinese residents bought 579.69 billion yuan ($80.54 billion) worth of lottery tickets, a new record. This follows from data released the other day by the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China.

Compared to 2022, sales increased by 155.04 billion yuan or 36.5 per cent.

Sales of lottery tickets to support the sports industry reached 385.26 billion yuan, also a record high. Compared with the previous year, sales rose 39 per cent.

Lottery ticket sales in support of China's social security system reached 194.44 billion yuan, up 31% year-on-year.

As for the data for December 2023, sales in the month fell 13.8 per cent to 53.28 billion yuan.