Chinese Ministry of Finance calms online lottery fears

The commercial clout of the business media was again illustrated last week when companies with an interest in online lottery activities in China found their share prices under siege following a misinterpreted report from a news agency that the government regarded all online lottery operations as illegal.

So serious was the fall-out, China’s Ministry of Finance felt obliged to step in and explain that there was no blanket ban in place, and that two major companies were operating legally under Chinese government licenses that permit the sale of sports lottery tickets online.

Lottery action is a big money-spinner in China (see previous reports), generating around $6.74 billion in online sales alone…a 13.5 percent slice of the massive total market in 2013.

The sports lottery sector has shown impressive growth this year with sales up 21.3 percent to Chinese Yuan Renminbi 12.12 billion in March.