BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery ticket sales reached 29.72 billion yuan (about 4.21 billion U.S. dollars) in October 2022, up 1.1 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

Sales of lottery tickets to support the welfare system came in at 10.99 billion yuan last month, a decrease of 12.7 percent from a year ago. Lottery tickets sold to support the sports industry rose by 11.4 percent year on year to 18.73 billion yuan.

In the first 10 months of 2022, China's lottery ticket sales stood at 310.96 billion yuan, up 1 percent compared with the same period last year, the data showed.

Under China's lottery management rules, funds raised from ticket sales are used for administrative expenses, public welfare projects and to fund prizes. ■