China's welfare lottery sales amounted to 96 billion yuan (US$14.47 billion) in 2010, up 21 billion or 27 percent year on year, the Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center (WLDMC) said Thursday.

The government-run lottery raised a total of 30 billion yuan for public welfare funds in 2010, the center's statistics showed.

The WLDMC is administered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was authorized by the State Council, or China's Cabinet, to raise welfare funds through lottery sales in 1987.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2011)