Recently released figures have shown that the 2019 fiscal year saw the aggregated nationwide sales of China’s two state-run lotteries drop by 17.5% year-on-year to register $60.26bn. 

As per a report from GGRAsia which cited official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance, the China Welfare Lottery registered a decline of 14.8% decline, $27.3bn, in annual sales when compares to last year, with the China Sports Lottery suffering higher losses as it recorded a 19.6% decline, roughly $32.96bn.

In addition to this, governmental figures also reportedly showed that the Sichuan Province proved to be the only Chinese region to record an annual increase, recording a 6.1% rise, $2.68bn, in the aggregated sale of lottery products.

It was also reported that despite posting a 19.2% decrease, $5.65bn, the Guangdong Province again proved to be the most lucrative lottery market in, with the Jiangsu Province following in second with a registered total of $5.04bn following a 20.6% deterioration.

The news follows on from China’s Ministry of Finance reportedly detailing that both sets of lottery sales crashed by a combined 4.9% year-on-year in December, with China’s Sports Lottery falling by 1.1% at the time, with the Welfare Lottery experiencing a 9% decrease. 

China’s lottery sales will not have got off to a good start in 2020 following the release of these results due to the COVID-19 outbreak which originated within the country prior to becoming a global pandemic. 

Due to the scale of the outbreak, Chinese officials halted all sales of lottery tickets within January to help stop the spread of the highly-contagious Coronavirus as parts of the country went into lockdown.