China bets on Olympic lotteries to tap Games fever
BEIJING - CHINA, where gambling is mostly illegal, is giving punters the chance to scoop 730,000 dollars (S$1 million) in special Olympic lotteries by correctly guessing answers like who will win the country's first Games gold.
Ticket holders will have a chance to win up to five million yuan from a two yuan ticket as the lotteries begin to roll out on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony, according to the www.lottery.gov.cn website.
The first will be a nationwide lottery, while three others will be held in Beijing, the northern city of Tianjin and Guangdong province in the south, the Beijing Times said on Thursday.
To get a chance of winning the jackpots, gamblers will have to give the correct answer to questions such as 'which game will see China win its first gold medal' and 'which country or region will win the most gold medals (on a particular day)', examples on the website showed.
The lotteries were being launched to 'actively promote the 2008 Beijing Olympics and satisfy the mass public's demand to get involved', the finance ministry said in a statement when it first announced the move in March.
Tickets for the four lotteries will be sold from Friday to August 24, the last day of the Games, and there will be draws every day, it said.
Gambling is mostly banned in China, although casino gambling is permitted in the southern city of Macau and state-organised lotteries provide a legal outlet for people wishing to take a flutter. -- AFP
BEIJING - CHINA, where gambling is mostly illegal, is giving punters the chance to scoop 730,000 dollars (S$1 million) in special Olympic lotteries by correctly guessing answers like who will win the country's first Games gold.
Ticket holders will have a chance to win up to five million yuan from a two yuan ticket as the lotteries begin to roll out on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony, according to the www.lottery.gov.cn website.
The first will be a nationwide lottery, while three others will be held in Beijing, the northern city of Tianjin and Guangdong province in the south, the Beijing Times said on Thursday.
To get a chance of winning the jackpots, gamblers will have to give the correct answer to questions such as 'which game will see China win its first gold medal' and 'which country or region will win the most gold medals (on a particular day)', examples on the website showed.
The lotteries were being launched to 'actively promote the 2008 Beijing Olympics and satisfy the mass public's demand to get involved', the finance ministry said in a statement when it first announced the move in March.
Tickets for the four lotteries will be sold from Friday to August 24, the last day of the Games, and there will be draws every day, it said.
Gambling is mostly banned in China, although casino gambling is permitted in the southern city of Macau and state-organised lotteries provide a legal outlet for people wishing to take a flutter. -- AFP
