Chinese facing online lottery firm to focus on physical lottery opportunities

After exhibiting remarkable patience over the now several-year-long ‘temporary’ suspension in China of online lottery ticket sales (see previous  reports) 500.com has apparently switched focus to the physical side of the business, announcing Tuesday a deal with China Sports Lottery Administration to develop land lottery sales channels.

The continued application of the Chinese online lottery ticket sales ban has seen 500.com increasingly forced to look at other business revenue sources which included a venture into the poker social scene through a majority interest acquisition in Qufan Internet Technology Inc. and Shenzhen Qufan Internet Technology.

These were apparently abandoned in February when 500.com advised that it had sold off its interests, although it maintains a minority stake through a separate agreement  in Melco LottVentures Holdings Ltd, and a controlling stake in Nordic-facing online gambling operator Multilotto.com (see previous reports).

Lottery sales from both the Welfare and Sports Lotteries in China continue to boom, with the latest figures (for February) showing an overall y-o-y rise of 31.4 percent at RMB38.3 billion (US$6.07 billion)

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