Best Online lotteries in China 2023

Between 205 and 187 BC, keno slips were one of the first signs of Chinese lotteries. Historians believe that the Han Dynasty used these slips to finance government projects, including China's Great Wall.

Found in China's 2nd millennium Book of Songs, the words 'drawing of wood' appears to reference games of chance in the form of drawings. These findings, lead historians to believe that China has a long history of gambling dating back to the country's earlier years.

More recently, in 1987, China established its official lottery with sales growing 33 percent every year. As the lottery has expanded, a variety of games are available for Chinese consumers, such as scratch cards, video terminals, virtual sports betting, and weekly lottery draws. All games are managed by lottery administrators.

Welfare Lottery tickets only cost 2 Yuan to play. Just choose numbers from one to 33, and a separate number from one to 16. Jackpots reach as high as hundreds of millions of Yuan. For matching all the numbers, a player wins 70 percent of the jackpot, if he or she is the only winner.

Picking six out of seven numbers correctly means a player wins 30 percent of the pot. Each ticket has reference number printed on it, which allows the player to check if his numbers won the lottery. Sports lotteries are also popular in China, and lottery participants can use knowledge of sports to win.

Licensed lottery sellers are more reputable than street vendors, who sometimes sell counterfeit tickets. Illegal gambling in China is worth up to 20 times as much as the legal market. Authorities regularly track nefarious bad actors, as the number of Chinese citizens betting on legal and illegal gambling options continues to grow.

With more than 200 million gamblers in China presently, at least 7 million are battling addiction to lottery ticket buying. In fact, 34.8 percent of players admit to spending spare time always thinking about playing the lottery or participating in lottery-related activities.

Since its inception, China's lottery has served as an enormous funding measure to support sports and social welfare programs. Unfortunately, it seems ticket buyers are less concerned about where the money is distributed, with 40 percent viewing the lottery as a form of entertainment.

Since 1949, the Communist Party has outlawed gambling for Chinese citizens. However, state-run lotteries are acceptable, and lottery administrators offer citizens a wide variety of lottery options to choose. There are two main lotteries operated by the government, the Sports and Welfare Lotteries.

However, the government has expanded the types of games available, including virtual sports betting and scratch cards.

With the exceptions of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, gambling is illegal in China. Governed by Article 303 from the PRC Criminal Law, citizens are prohibited from engaging in gambling and face fines and imprisonment for violating the law. However, in 2005, the Supreme People's Court clarified the law to indicate that legitimate forms of gambling include the Welfare and Sports Lotteries.

Article 303 prohibits online and land-based gambling without defining what online gambling and land-based gambling entails. In addition, the finance ministry regulates lottery ticket seller licensing. According to China gambling regulations, only two state-run lotteries and associated products are legal.

China's citizens are following the mobile payment trend. Studies show that more than 92 percent of citizens in China's most populous cities use Alipay or Wechat, third-party payment processors, as a payment method. Even rural areas are on board, and 47 percent of rural players also preferring mobile payment methods.

Some companies are taking note. In 2017, AGTech holdings entered a contract with Alipay to distribute and sell lottery products on Alipay's Lottery Channel, depending on approval from the country's finance ministry and applicable regulations.

Alipay is an affiliate of Alibaba Group, which added AGTech to its conglomerate in 2016. Alibaba at one time accounted for more than 11 percent of China's lottery. However, in 2015, the finance ministry banned all online sales to tackle rampant fraud.

By 2020, the People's Bank released numbers that electronic payments in China grew by more than 6 percent. That same year, more than 30 billion mobile transactions were included in 62.1 billion electronic payments noted in the country. By March 2020, nearly 800 million Chinese citizens chose mobile payment options to purchase goods and services.

This trend extends to lottery online tickets. A website providing services to Chinese ticket buyers is called China Lotto, although it does not declare any official affiliation with the government. China Lotto is one of the best lottery sites and accepts several payment methods, including:

Visa

Visa Inc. is one of the most popular payment methods across the globe. By processing electronic transfers, the company manages one of the largest financial networks in the world through Visa-branded debit, pre-paid, and debit cards.

Mastercard

As a cooperative, Mastercard Worldwide is co-owned by more than 25,000 bank and financial establishments around the globe. Principally, the company facilitates payment processing for credit unions and banks, which issue Mastercard-branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

Neteller

Neteller provides money transfer services online for merchants, including forex trading companies, social networks, and merchants. User transfer funds to and from merchants or bank accounts, using the Net+ card.