China lottery sales decline

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that lottery sales in the country of US$4.4 billion declined 10.9 percent on a year-on-year basis in August, bringing the decline over the past 8 months to 1.9 percent, according to Ministry of Finance figures.

Welfare lottery sales increased by 0.4 percent year-on-year to RMB133.4 billion in the first eight months, while sports lottery sales fell 4.2 percent to RMB109.4 billion.

However, officials pointed out that the numbers last year were distorted by a sales boom associated with the World Cup football.

Successful lottery regions included the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the Henan, Fujian, Hebei and Shandong provinces.

In related news, the forward march of London-listed Chinese lottery firm DJI Holdings has been impacted by the continued Chinese suspension of online lottery action.

First-half net revenue plunged to GBP 2.1 million from GBP 3.4 million in the same period last year, widening net losses to GBP 3.4 million from GBP 2.3 million in H1-2014.

The company said it has been actively seeking to diversify its revenue sources to improve long-term prospects, both in the lottery and non-lottery businesses.

The non-lottery activities included the launch and operation of the Heilongjiang Sports Bureau online booking platform for sports facilities and sports equipment hire throughout the province, which is the location of the most popular winter-sports destination in China, with 290 million tourists visiting in 2014.

Rexlot Holdings reported similar difficulties, revealing that its turnover in H1-2015 was down 7 percent y-o-y at US$ 109.5 million, and profit before tax declined 23 percent to HK$342.22 million.

Beijing halted all online sales from March 1st 2015 due to widespread illegal gambling.

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