China's 2014 welfare lottery sales hit 206 bln yuan

China's major lottery, the welfare lottery,saw sales of 205.96 billion yuan (about 33.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, up 16.67 percent year on year, authorities announced Monday.

Last year it raised more than 57 billion yuan in public welfare funds, according to the China Welfare Lottery Issuing and Management Center.

Lottery sales are divided up to cover the jackpot as well as lottery management fees and public welfare fund.

The majority of money allocated to the public welfare fund covers social insurance programs, poverty relief, initiatives for the disabled as well as donations to other charity projects.

From 1987 to 2014, sales of the welfare lottery totaled 1,170 billion yuan, raising 360 billion yuan in public welfare funds, according to the center.