The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has recently issued the revised Administrative Measures for the Issuance and Sales of Lottery Tickets (the "Measures"), with effect from January 1, 2019.
According to the Measures, revisions introduced this time are aimed at putting in place arrangements made for advancing the reform of "streamlining administration, delegating powers and strengthening regulation, and improving services", tightening the pursuit of liabilities for the supervision of lottery tickets, among others. The Measures provide that, issuing and selling lottery tickets shall follow the principles of openness, fairness, justice, good faith and voluntary buying, and place a ban on selling lottery tickets by allocating the sale quota either directly or in a disguised manner, or selling at a premium or discount, or on credit or on the basis of the credit standing, or selling lottery tickets or offering the lottery prize to minors. Meanwhile, the Measures clearly state that, lottery issuance agencies and lottery sales agencies must abide by relevant laws, regulations and rules of the country, while releasing information to the public and carrying out marketing campaigns; they shall ensure the information released and such marketing campaigns are free of any false or misleading content, not intended for instigating speculation, and do not involve any implied content that exclude or defame their peers.