Report: Better supervision of lottery sales required

Percentage of funds spent on philanthropy has been decreasing

The proportion of lottery sales used for public services and philanthropy has been declining in recent years, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Friday.

With lottery sales increasing quickly, intensified supervision is urgently needed on the use of the vast amount of money generated to ensure more goes to public services, said the Annual Report on China's Philanthropy Development 2016.

China's lottery sales reached 368 billion yuan ($56 billion) last year, more than double the level of 2010, according to the report.

Last year, 98 billion yuan from lottery sales was used for public services, such as social welfare, developing sports facilities, education, and medical and poverty relief.

That accounted for 26.6 percent of total sales, down from about 30 percent in 2010, the report said.

A notice issued by the State Council in 2001 said that at least 35 percent of lottery sales in China should be used for public services and philanthropy.

According to the report, total philanthropic donations from the public was expected to reach 99 billion yuan ($15 billion) last year, a slight decrease from the 106 billion yuan collected in 2014, the report said.

The number of registered volunteers in the past several years has been increasing, exceeding 100 million last year, the report said.

Yang Tuan, deputy director of the Center for Social Policy Research at the academy, said that with increasing lottery sales, more problems have been exposed in the use and management of the funds.

"Although lottery funds are from the public, only government departments are eligible to use the money, and supervision is lacking," she said. "It is very difficult for the public to evaluate how the money is spent."

A major reason for the declining proportion of money being used for public services and philanthropy is due to improper management.

"In China, the overhead costs for the lottery could account for as much as 20 percent of sales, but in some developed countries the figure was 5 percent," she said.

China's National Audit Office, in an audit conducted in 2014, found that a quarter of the total lottery funds had been misused for various purposes such as buying or building properties and subsidies for government employees.

Dong Zijin, a lawyer and one of the authors of the report, said that a law on lottery management should be made to better regulate sales and distribution in China.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn