China’s sales of official lottery products in April fell by 13.7 percent from the prior-year period, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Total sales in April were nearly CNY35.99 billion (US$5.21 billion), the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday. Welfare lottery sales declined by 17.4 percent year-on-year, to approximately CNY16.29 billion, while sports lottery sales stood at CNY19.70 billion, 10.4 percent less than a year ago.

For the first four months of 2019, total sales of lottery products declined by 2.5 percent year-on-year, to approximately CNY142.31 billion. Welfare lottery sales totalled nearly CNY65.35 billion in the four months to April 30, down by 9.2 percent from the prior-year period, while sports lottery sales increased by 4.1 percent year-on-year to CNY76.96 billion.

The official data also showed that in April sales went up in only two of 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets. Guangdong province, which last year reported the highest combined sales of welfare and sports lottery tickets, saw its sales decline by 16.8 percent year-on-year in April.

Guangdong continues to be the leading lottery market in mainland China. Combined sales of welfare and sports lottery tickets reached nearly CNY13.10 billion in the January to April period, down 7.8 percent from a year earlier.