China lottery sales surge 20.3 pct in March

China's lottery sales jumped 20.3 percent year on year to 32.87 billion yuan ($5.34 billion) in March, latest government data showed on Thursday.

Sales of welfare lottery tickets rose 19.4 percent to 18.75 billion yuan last month. Sports lottery sales in March soared 21.3 percent year on year to 14.12 billion yuan, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

In the first three months, total lottery sales stood at 80.03 billion yuan, up 15.9 percent from a year earlier.

In 2013, total lottery sales topped 309 billion yuan, up 18.3 percent year on year, the ministry's data showed.