Lottery ticket sales surge 51 pct

China's lottery ticket sales surged 51.1 percent year on year in January to 24.86 billion yuan (US$3.96 billion), official data showed yesterday.

The Ministry of Finance mainly attributed the jump in sales to seven more working days to sell lottery tickets in January. Last year, the week-long holiday for the Spring Festival fell in January. It fell in February this year.

Of the total, welfare lottery sales reached 14.69 billion yuan, up 48.5 percent annually. Sales of sports lottery tickets jumped 55 percent to 10.17 billion yuan, the statement said.