Xie made the remarks when commenting on some back-door news that lottery selling would be braked to a halt by the end of the year in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

"A halt to lottery selling would bring big losses to the country. But no force can stop it for lotteries have been sold under a centralized plan, on a national scale. Under any eventualities the State Sport General Administration would be let know first and be consulted for approval not to say the broad masses who should likewise also be made known first before a halt has to be put to countrywide sale of lotteries", said the official.

Xie told that lotteries sold so far in China this year have already been up to a total worth of over 8.5 billion yuan, an amount twice over that of last year. The last two weeks, Beijing has been at the peak of its lottery sales ranking it first in China and this will exclude all possibilities for putting a brake to the country's lottery sales.

As to lottery selling in the coming year, Xie briefed confidently that more lottery varieties are to be projected in China. Soccer lottery sales as much to the care of soccer fans has been under planning and to work for an increased number of selling booths will be one of the major tasks under consideration.

(People’s Daily 12/20/2000)