BEIJING — China's lottery sales declined 17.5 percent year-on-year to 422.1 billion yuan ($60.3 billion) in 2019, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

In breakdown, sales of welfare lottery tickets went down 14.8 percent year-on-year to 191.2 billion yuan, while sports lottery sales dropped 19.6 percent to 230.8 billion yuan.

In December last year, lottery sales fell 4.9 percent year-on-year to 40.9 billion yuan. Sales of welfare lottery tickets and sports lottery decreased 9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Under China's lottery management rules, money from lottery ticket sales is used for administrative expenses, public welfare projects and prize money.