Chinese Welfare lottery keeps growing

China’s welfare lottery sales hit a record 151.03 billion yuan (about $24.08 billion) in 2012, up 18 percent year on year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced Sunday.

Government spokesmen told the newspaper China Daily that lottery sales raised more than 46.4 billion yuan for public welfare funding during 2012.

China Daily reports that half of the country’s public welfare funds go to central government coffers, while the other half is distributed to local governments across the country. Funds are then allocated to social welfare programs and charities.

The aggregate sales volume of the welfare lottery has exceeded 787.6 billion yuan since its debut in 1987, and more than 253 billion yuan in public welfare funds have benefited hundreds of millions of people around the country, says the Ministry.

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