Mainland China’s total sales from official lottery products in November increased by 12.6 percent year-on-year to approximately RMB34.48 billion (US$4.96 billion), according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Welfare lottery sales totalled RMB17.86 billion in November, up by 4.9 percent from the prior-year period, while sports lottery sales jumped 22.1 percent year-on-year to RMB16.62 billion.

In November, sales were up in 28 of the 31 provinces and cities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets.

Combined sales for the two lottery systems during the first 11 months of this year amounted to RMB358.05 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent. Welfare lottery sales increased by 2.3 percent from the prior-year period to reach approximately RMB186.51 billion, while sales of sports lottery products rose by 13.3 percent to RMB171.54 billion.

Guangdong remained mainland China’s biggest single-province market for lottery products in the first 11 months of 2016, with total lottery ticket sales reaching RMB35.92 billion in the period, up by 11 percent from a year earlier. Guangdong was followed by Jiangsu province, where total lottery ticket sales were RMB29.43 billion, up by 3.9 percent year-on-year.

Shandong province in eastern China was ranked third, with combined ticket sales reaching RMB29.03 billion in the 11 months to November 30, an increase of 7.7 percent from a year earlier, according to official data.