World Cup football boosts Chinese sports lotteries

Chinese television network CNTV reports that sales of sports lottery tickets are booming as a result of the World Cup football currently unfolding in Brazil.

Statistics from China’s General Administration of Sport show that lottery sales related to the World Cup hit a new high by midday on June 21st… just 9 days into the World Cup…with sales of sports lotteries amounting to 4 billion yuan, or about US$ 640 million.

That’s about one sixth of last year’s total sales, far exceeding the 2.3 billion yuan sold during the last World Cup in 2010, officials have confirmed.

Lottery sales on June 17 alone crossed 670 million yuan – the highest sale recorded in China since this year’s World Cup began.

Observers are now predicting that sales will top 10 billion yuan during this year’s Brazil spectacular, and attribute the sales boom to the expansion of online gambling, along with lottery apps on smart phones that are making betting more convenient and accessible.

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