Sales boom

The Shijiazhuang lottery was followed by sales in nine other provinces and cities. In 1987, the total sales in the country reached only 17.4 million yuan.

Lottery organizers started adopting "innovative" approaches to boost sales. And increasingly it looked more like a lucky draw than an exercise in patriotism.

A typical scene used to be a truck packed with motorcycles, color TV sets, washing machines and even shampoo in a city square or a bazaar in the countryside. Typically there would be singing and dancing shows before the results of the lucky draws were announced. The winners would then step up to claim their prizes, encouraging others to buy more.

In 1988, the State Council approved a lottery designed to raise funds for the 11th Asian Games held in Beijing in 1990. That marked a departure from the Cabinet's initial intention that all proceeds would be used for social welfare. But since then, lotteries in numerous forms have been approved to finance sports events in the country.

In 1989, lottery sales in China hit 380 million yuan and have skyrocketed since as lotteries began to lose the sense of guilt associated with them and the government became increasingly aggressive in pushing sales.

Prizes were gradually replaced by cash awards and public lucky draws were replaced by computerized lotteries. From 1985 to 1999, China sold lotteries worth more than 50 billion yuan.