|
Download Chinese retailers began selling lottery tickets related to the London Olympic Games on Tuesday to raise money for public welfare. Meanwhile, experts issued a warning saying that illegal betting on sports could become more common online during the Games. Two types of scratch-off lottery tickets with names related to the Olympics - "the Chinese Olympic Delegation" and "Hand in Hand with the Olympic Games" - were introduced in Beijing on Tuesday, said an official from the Beijing Sports Lottery Administration Center, who declined to be named. Every ticket in "the Chinese Olympic Delegation" series costs 10 yuan ($1.60) and gives buyers an opportunity to win a maximum of 250,000 yuan. Each in the "Hand in Hand with the Olympic Games" series costs 5 yuan and offers a top prize of 100,000 yuan. Meanwhile, the General Administration of Sport of China's sports lottery management center will sell lottery tickets designed to predict the results of Olympic sport contests and what rankings athletes will obtain in certain events, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. Tickets containing accurate predictions can be worth as much as 5 million yuan, the report said. Gambling is illegal on the Chinese mainland except when it is done with tickets the government issues in sports and welfare lotteries. Every year, such lotteries raise hundreds of millions of yuan for the construction of buildings and other structures used in public sports, as well as for the support of social welfare programs. China’s regulations say that money collected from lottery sales must go for three purposes: paying out jackpots, managing the lotteries and supporting social welfare. | 
