China's welfare lottery sales hit a record 127.8 billion yuan (20.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, up 32 percent year-on-year, the Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center (WLDMC) said Thursday.
It was the first time for welfare lottery sales to exceed 100 billion yuan. Around 96 billion yuan in welfare lottery tickets were sold in 2010, according to official data.
The lottery raised a total of 39 billion yuan for public welfare funds in 2011, the center's statistics showed.
The WLDMC is administered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was authorized by the State Council, or China's cabinet, to raise welfare funds through lottery sales in 1987.
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