Smaller losses for China-facing online lottery provider

Zhengming Pan, CEO of the China-facing online lottery provider 500.com, again flagged the long-running government suspension of sports lottery services in China in posting Q2-2016 results this week, noting:

“We voluntarily and temporarily suspended our online lottery sales operations in response to the promulgation of the Self-Inspection Notice. Such temporary and voluntary suspension materially and adversely impacted our financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2016.”

However, the company reported that its net losses on a year-on-year bases were lower at RMB 27.7 million ($4.2 million) compared to the net loss of RMB 81.4 million in Q2-2015, and that it had generated net revenue of RMB 1.2 million compared with the nil return registered in the same period last year.

The company anxiously awaits notification from the Ministry of Finance regarding a resumption date for online sports lottery sales.