Lottery service site , one of two entities that have been granted approval for online lottery sales, has had trading of its shares halted on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, following its decision to suspend its online sales in China on Friday.
A spokesperson with the company told the Global Times late on Monday that the company does not know the reasons for the halt yet or when trading will be resumed.
This move came after the Shenzhen-based sports-lottery service provider said on its website Friday that it was suspending sales of its online lotteries starting from Friday to improve its website, following a statement jointly released by eight government authorities.
New regulations for online lottery vendors issued by the Ministry of Finance on its website Friday require all unauthorized online lottery entities to immediately suspend their sales.
Companies that plan to sell lottery tickets online need to get permission from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the General Administration of Sports first in order to submit an online lottery provider application to the Ministry of Finance, according to the statement.
said its suspension on Friday was aimed at helping the implementation of the new regulations.
The company is one of the two entities authorized for online lottery sales services by the Ministry of Finance.
Sporttery.cn, a site under the GAS, is the other service that got the approval.
Analysts said they are not surprised that the lottery regulators ordered a new halt, as online lottery is a rising market in China.
"When the online lottery service grows too fast, the industry needs more regulations and supervisions," Huo Yukun, a lawyer with Liaoning Yatai Law Firm, told Global Times on Monday.
Online lottery sales in China reached 85 billion yuan ($13.57 billion) in 2014, an increase of 102.4 percent from 2013, according to Beijing-based lottery market research firm Caitong Consulting.
Online lottery is also becoming an increasingly major part of China's lottery industry, Li Chao, analyst from Beijing-based market research firm iResearch, told the Global Times Monday.
Online sales accounted for 22.2 percent of the total lottery sales in 2014, mainly due to sports lotteries, according to data from Caitong Consulting.
"People who play online sports lotteries need a lot of information, which can be quickly found via the Internet," said Li, explaining why online lottery has grown so fast in recent years.
Li noted that the new halt shows that Chinese regulators need time to come up with new unified standards for all online lottery service providers.
"It's still unclear which platform is regulated and which is not, so the suspension could help avoid potential illegal activities," Li said.
It is not the first time that the authorities have shut down online lottery providers, according to media reports.
In January, the Ministry of Finance unveiled a so-called self-inspection and self-correction document to crack down on illegal online sales of lotteries.
One month later in February, more than 50 providers, including giant Internet companies like Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Baidu Inc, halted their sales of lotteries online.
When the Internet giants stopped selling online lotteries in February, NYSE-listed saw its shares fall 81.04 percent from earlier in February to $9.23 on February 27, its lowest since it got listed.
Though the stock rebounded to $12.29 on Friday, it is still below the IPO offering price of $13.
However, analysts said they still have high expectations for China's online lottery service.
" is likely to resume its online selling service and meet investors' expectations in the near future," said Huo.
