China National Lottery sales witness decline of over 13% Y-O-Y in February

The Finance Ministry of China has released figures for the China National Lottery in February 2024. During the month, a total of 36.301 billion yuan ($5.02 billion) of lottery tickets were sold nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 5.509 billion yuan (about $761 million) or 13.2%. 

The sales of lottery tickets aimed at supporting welfare initiatives were recorded at 12.63 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), a decrease of 6.6% from the previous year. Meanwhile, sales of tickets supporting the sports sector were 23.66 billion yuan ($3.2 billion), representing a substantial year-on-year decrease of 16.3%. The decline was attributed mainly to the market being closed during the Spring Festival holiday in February this year. 

Cumulatively from January to February, a total of 93.865 billion yuan (about $12 billion) in lottery tickets were sold nationwide, an increase of 25.1% year-on-year. Among them, the sales of welfare lottery institutions tickets were 32.322 billion yuan (4 billion), an increase of 32.6% year-on-year. In comparison, the sales of tickets supporting sports lottery institutions were 61.543 billion yuan ($8.5 billion), an increase of 21.5% year-on-year.

Lottery sales by type

In terms of sales by type, Lotto digital lottery sales reached 9.829 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 26.2%; guess lottery sales totaled 13.200 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 32.3%. Meanwhile, instant lottery sales recorded the highest sales jump at 11.204 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 66.6%.

Keno lottery sales were 20.68 billion yuan ($2.9 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 8.7%. In February, the sales volume of Lotto digital, guessing, instant, and Keno lottery tickets accounted for 27.1%, 36.4%, 30.8%, and 5.7% of the total lottery sales respectively. The sales of video lottery tickets were 100,000 yuan, an increase of 9% year-on-year.

Cumulatively from January to February, Lotto digital lottery sales were 26.412 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.9%; guess-type lottery sales were 36.443 billion yuan, an increase of 4.2%; instant lottery sales were 252.62 billion, an increase of 93.8%; and Keno lottery sales were 5.747 billion yuan, an increase of 42.3%. 

From January to February, the sales volume of Lotto digital, guessing, instant and Keno lottery tickets accounted for 28.2%, 38.8%, 26.9% and 6.1% of the total lottery sales respectively. Video lottery sales were 210,000 yuan, an increase of 190,000 yuan year-on-year.

Xinjiang and Hainan lead by region

In terms of sales performance across different regions, the majority of provinces showed varying degrees of decline, except for Xinjiang and Hainan. Guangdong, Hubei, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu had larger decreases, with year-on-year drops of 703 million yuan and 614 million yuan respectively.

However, umulatively from January to February, compared with the same period last year, lottery sales in all provinces across the country increased. Among them, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Henan, and Hebei increased significantly, with year-on-year increases of 2.045 billion yuan, 1.333 billion yuan, 1.133 billion, and 993 million yuan respectively.

The Ministry of Finance emphasized the importance of closely monitoring market trends and enhancing lottery issuance and sales strategies to ensure continued market stability. Financial authorities at all levels have been urged to bolster supervision efforts and maintain market order to support the sustainable development of the lottery industry.