China’s lottery sales rose 12.2 percent year on year to 42.23 billion yuan (about 6 billion US dollars) in October, official data showed. 

Sales of welfare lottery tickets went up 3.3 percent from a year ago to nearly 19 billion yuan, while sports lottery sales jumped 20.5 percent to about 23 billion yuan, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Under China’s lottery management rules, money from lottery ticket sales covers administrative fees, public welfare projects and prize money.

Twenty-one provincial regions posted year-on-year sales increases in the last month, with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong leading the growth.

Total sales in the first 10 months of this year stood at 425.73 billion yuan, up 22.2 percent year on year.