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Beijing Stops Lottery Sales

Citing problems such as fake prizes and lack of notarisation, authorities in Beijing have suspended both welfare and sports lotteries.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance, which supervises the local lottery industry, said the business of the dealers would be restructured, the Beijing Times reported.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance ordered local financial authorities to completely audit the country's lotteries.

The move followed a widely publicized scandal in Xi an, provincial capital of Northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province, involving organizers who fixed the results in favour of certain top prizewinners.

After that, the National Sports Lottery Centre stopped sales of sports lottery tickets in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Beijing financial authorities also found some fake lottery prizes.

"Some prizes were not worth the money advertised,"the Beijing Times reported.

The local finance bureau also pointed out that the draws sometimes are not notarised. The bureau could not be reached on June 1 for further comment.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance said sales of lottery tickets are expected to resume in the near future.

"If sales of lottery tickets in Beijing resume,prizes will change to cash from awards in kind," the official said.

There are two kinds of lottery games in China, ticket lotteries and computerized lotteries. Ticket lotteries announce prizewinners on-site. Sports lottery tickets account for a very small percentage of Beijing's local sports lottery market. Most sports lotteries are computerized, said sources with the Beijing Sports Lottery Centre. But in some medium- and small-sized cities, ticket lotteries involve a bigger markets, sources said.  Experts have called for lottery legislation to deal with problems in the booming industry.