Chinese lottery sales up 10.4% year-on-year in March despite Covid measures
| By Daniel O'Boyle
Chinese lottery sales came to CNY32.94bn (£3.96bn/€4.74bn/$4.99bn) in March, up by 10.4% year-on-year despite the reintroduction of many measures to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the country during the month.
Revenue was also up 46.5% from February of 2022.
The sports lottery continued to make up the majority of revenue, at CNY19.63bn, up 4.3%.
This included CNY10.74bn from sports wagering, up 4.9%, plus CNY5.85bn, down by 0.3%, as well as CNY3.04bn from scratchcards, up 10.5%. Revenue from video lottery games was minimal, at just CNY11m.
The welfare lottery, meanwhile, brought in CNY13.31bn, up 21.6%.
Of this total, CNY8.304bn came from draw games, up 16.9%, while scratchards brought in CNY2.67bn, up 14.0% and keno revenue was up 59.4% to CNY2.33bn.
For the year to date, revenue came to CNY86.27bn, which is up 2.0% from 2021.