(Dan Tri) – China’s lottery industry revenue increased sharply in the first 10 months of the year.
A woman shows off a set of lottery scratch cards in Shanghai, April 28 (Photo: VCG).
Every time he arrives in a new Chinese city, Shi Xiangyu tries his luck at lottery booths that have become increasingly popular across the country over the past few years.
`I see more and more lottery shops everywhere and this makes me even more interested,` the 28-year-old said.
Amid growing economic uncertainty and an uneven recovery that has reduced incomes, many Chinese are showing increasing interest in lotteries.
Data from the Chinese Ministry of Finance shows that lottery industry revenue totaled about 66.6 billion USD in the first 10 months of this year, meaning the country’s 1.4 billion people spent an average of 47.50 USD.
Additionally, lottery ticket sales increased 53% nationwide compared to the same period last year, with an increase of approximately $23 billion.
Qichacha, a business data provider, said the number of new registrations of lottery-related businesses in China increased 38% in the first 10 months of this year compared with a year earlier.
People buy lottery tickets in Shanghai, April 28 (Photo: VCG).
However, in a June report, researchers at Anbound, an independent consulting organization based in Beijing, said that `the booming lottery revenue signals a long and challenging road ahead.`
`In the context of a slow economic recovery and reduced consumer spending, lottery tickets will be a non-essential expenditure, and people appear to be shifting their attitude from ‘relatively risk averse’ to
`The increase in spending on lottery tickets suggests that people believe that opportunities to accumulate wealth through labor are decreasing,` the report said.
Chinese consumers and investors are facing difficulties in the post-Covid economic recovery process, which has already stalled due to domestic and international headwinds, as well as market chaos.
Lottery ticket revenue has skyrocketed in the first 10 months of the year in all 31 provincial-level administrative units of mainland China (including provinces, autonomous regions, special administrative regions, and centrally run cities).
China generally bans all forms of gambling except for the China Sports Lottery and China Welfare Lottery – traditional lotteries in which players choose numbers and buy scratch cards.
Data from the Chinese Ministry of Finance also shows that sports betting activities increased by 68% in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year, while revenue from lottery tickets and scratch-off lottery increased respectively.
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