China Issues Lottery Market Regulation Fund Measures to Optimize Products and Curb Risks
The Ministry of Finance has issued the Measures for the Administration of Lottery Market Regulation Funds, allocating resources through central-to-local transfer payments. The funds, sourced from business fees remitted by lottery issuing institutions to the central government, support coordinated development across provinces, institutions and lottery types, strengthen supervision, and safeguard market order. Allocation follows principles of objectivity, coordination, prioritization and performance, with preference for regions achieving key tasks, focusing on optimizing lottery product structures and preventing market risks.
The Ministry of Finance has issued the Measures for the Administration of Lottery Market Regulation Funds. The measures specify that lottery market regulation funds are sourced from business fees of lottery issuing institutions remitted to the central government, and are earmarked for coordinating the balanced development of the national lottery market across provinces, institutions and lottery types, strengthening lottery supervision, ensuring the safety of lottery issuance and sales, maintaining lottery market order, and promoting the public welfare attributes and social responsibility of lotteries. The funds are allocated and distributed through central-to-local transfer payments.
Fund allocation and use follow the principles of objectivity and fairness, coordinated planning, focused priorities and performance orientation. Taking into account the actual conditions of each region, the allocation tilts toward regions that have accomplished key tasks with outstanding results, with priority support for optimizing lottery product and game structures and preventing and resolving market risks.
The measures stipulate the division of responsibilities among departments at various levels. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for formulating the administrative measures, determining the total annual budget scale and provincial allocation plans, defining overall performance targets, issuing budgets in accordance with budget management procedures, and organizing budget performance management. It may also organize or commission third-party institutions to conduct key performance evaluations as needed.
Provincial finance departments are responsible for coordinating the actual conditions of the welfare lottery and sports lottery markets in their respective provinces, reviewing the fund needs and performance targets of lottery sales institutions, proposing provincial fund needs and regional performance targets, and handling provincial budget allocation, fund supervision and budget performance management. Lottery sales institutions are responsible for project reserves for lottery market regulation funds, applying for fund needs, proposing performance targets, and organizing budget execution and performance self-assessments in accordance with the measures and the budgets and performance targets issued by provincial finance departments.