The Chinese lottery market has experienced a remarkable post-pandemic recovery, achieving over 50 per cent growth year-on-year into the first half of 2023.

Continued growth would impressively see the world’s most populous nation break its annual sales record from pre-covid in 2018.

Impressive figures

China is likely to see a record set for lottery sales with a result projected to be $80 billion in 2023 with lottery sales in the first 6 months of 2023 reaching $38.3 billion already.

This is most immediately a surge from last year’s totals in the same period of 2022.

Sports lottery the catalyst

The sports lottery market segment has seen some explosive growth with growth in the month of June alone rising by a staggering 83.9 per cent with first-half growth reaching over 110 per cent, significantly outperforming the Lotto products sector.

The sports lottery segment has seen such an astronomical uptick that it has now managed to eclipse the seemingly insurmountable Welfare Lottery which boasts an impressive abundance of lotto products.

Factors inducing growth

This growth is heavily reliant on the rise of sports betting which has come in no small part thanks to the FIFA World Cup which has served to boost sales over the course of multiple tournaments.

This segment has also been freed of numerous product constraints that have hampered the development of the Welfare lottery, such as low return on player ceilings and the heavy limits imposed on draw frequency.

Additionally, the Welfare lottery has been plagued by several political and criminalised incidents that have been applied against its supervisory body, the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Growth across the board

Despite these hindrances, Welfare Lottery half-year sales have still managed a rise by 20 per cent and while this is not even a close comparison to the 71.7 per cent enjoyed by the Sports lottery, this is still an inspired increase.

Moreover, further minor lottery segments, such as instant lotteries (scratchies), have also registered a 51.1 per cent increase in the same time period and 18 per cent for Keno products.

SiGMA Balkans/CIS

As a globally recognised nexus for networking, SiGMA Group sets its sights next to the Balkans this September, when the?SIGMA Balkans/CIS Summit?heads to Limassol Cyprus.

A host of?networking opportunities and industry-leading knowledge?will be emanating from the much-anticipated event which will pack panel discussions, keynote speeches, start-up pitches and much more into 3 days in the diverse Cypriot city.

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