Taiwan has more lottery shops than 7-11 stores

taiwan-lottery-stores-outnumber-7-11

taiwan-lottery-stores-outnumber-7-11China’s lottery sales enjoyed strong double-digit growth in February, as players sought to welcome the Year of the Rooster with a lucky score.

Figures released by the Ministry of Finance show total lottery sales hitting RMB 28.15b (US $4.1b) in February, 25.4% higher than the same month last year. Welfare lottery sales were up 23.9% to RMB 15.3b while sports lottery numbers rose 27.1% to RMB 12.86b.

The Lunar New Year celebrations got underway on January 27, and the traditional gambling-friendly energy evidently lasted long enough to give February’s numbers a significant tailwind. The Ministry reported sales were up in 30 of the country’s 31 regional sales jurisdictions.

In related news, lottery product supplier BNN Technology (formerly known as DJI Holdings) has expanded the deal it signed with UK footballers Arsenal in 2015. BNN provides mobile payment services for the Xinhua News Mobile app, and subscribers will now enjoy exclusive Arsenal video content.

TAIWAN’S LOTTERY RETAILERS OUTNUMBER 7-11s
Meanwhile, a little further south in China’s ‘renegade province’ aka the Republic of Taiwan, lottery fever is evident in an entirely different bunch of statistics. According to official stats, the Taiwan Lottery Co lottery monopoly now has more retail outlets in the country than 7-11 has convenience stores.

CTBC Financial Holding Co, which controls the Taiwan Lottery, says it currently has 5,727 retailers selling lottery tickets nationwide. Meanwhile, President Chain Store Corp, the local firm that operates the 7-11 franchise in Taiwan, has 5,107 outlets currently flogging Big Gulps and two-year-old rotisserie hot dogs. We wouldn’t be the least surprised if this report led to a lot of lottery players incorporating 7s and 11s into their latest batch of surefire lucky numbers. (Remember to cut us in on the winnings if you read this here first.)

The growth in the number of lottery retailers is all the more impressive given that Taiwan’s government only approved the lottery’s operation in 2006. Since then, the Taiwan Lottery says it has sold a total of NT$1.18t (US $38.9b) worth of lottery tickets (about $309k of which was sold to a single Taipei city councillor).