China offers more hints re restarting online lottery sales

Chinese authorities are hinting that the country could rescind its ‘temporary’ suspension of online lottery sales, nearly three years after online sales were curtailed.

On Tuesday, Spanish gaming regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) posted a notice to its website regarding a bilateral meeting its officials held on Monday with representatives of China’s General Directorate of General Affairs of the Ministry of Finance.

Among other issues, the DGOJ claimed the two nations’ representatives – including DGOJ director general Juan Espinosa Garcia and Chinese commissioner Liu Jinyun (pictured) – had discussed “various aspects related to knowing the control system of lottery activity and other games, particularly in the online context.”

Prior to March 2015, China had allowed two companies – Shanghai Media Group and Nasdaq-listed 500.com – to participate in a ‘pilot program’ to monitor the impact of online lottery sales on the general public. In reality, many other Chinese lottery operators, including tech giant Alibaba, also offered online sports lottery and welfare lottery sales.