BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales reached 34.48 billion yuan (about 4.86 billion U.S. dollars) in August, up 5.7 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.
Sales of lottery tickets to support the welfare system came in at 12.67 billion yuan in August, an increase of 10.7 percent from a year ago.
Lottery tickets sold to support the sports industry rose by 3.1 percent year on year to 21.81 billion yuan.
In the first eight months, China's lottery ticket sales stood at 247.91 billion yuan, edging up 0.2 percent over the same period last year, the data showed.
Under China's lottery management rules, funds raised from ticket sales are used for administrative expenses, public welfare projects and to fund prizes. ■
