China lottery sales rise as top official faces corruption rumors

China’s lottery sales surged in October as the sports lottery came ever closer to overtaking the traditionally dominant welfare lottery.

Figures released Tuesday by China’s Ministry of Finance showed overall lottery sales of RMB 33.8b (US $4.9b) in October, 8.3% higher than the same month last year. For the year-to-date, sales are up 6.7% to RMB 323.5b ($46.7b).

Sales of the traditionally more popular welfare lottery were up 6% in October to RMB 17.3b, while sports lottery sales rose nearly 11% to RMB 16.5b, despite the absence of a major international football tournament of the kind that traditionally causes sports lottery sales spikes.

Meanwhile, the apparent purge of two top officials was reportedly due to a massive fraud involving welfare lottery operations. Earlier this month, rumors spread that Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo (pictured) and deputy Dou Yupei had fallen from grace after neither individual was seen during the closing ceremonies of the Communist Party’s sixth plenary session in October.