National lottery ban after Xi'an row
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-05-12 09:34

The China Welfare Lottery Issuing Center and China Sports Lottery Administration Center applied a national ban on sales of scratch-and-win tickets after after a recent sports lottery fraud in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and a blast at a lottery market in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.

The Sports Administration of Shaanxi Province said Tuesday Jia Anqing, the director of the Xi'an Lottery Center has been ordered to resign, with deputy director Zhang Yongmin being temporarily removed from the post for investigation.

The national ban came after a previous suspension of sports lottery tickets sales in Shaanxi because of the notorious Xi'an BMW fraud.

On March 23, 18-year-old Liu Liang drew a top prize ticket at the sports lottery sales site in Xi'an, winning 120,000 yuan (US$14,500) in cash and a new BMW car worth 480,000 yuan (US$58,000).

A day later, the Xi'an lottery center said the ticket Liu submitted was faked and refused to give him the prize.

When Liu protested, the center held a press conference saying Liu's ticket had been altered. But Liu told the press the faked ticket was not the original one he drew.

Yang Yongming, a private contractor of the sports lottery tickets, later confessed to police that he had changed tickets to try to win prizes himself.

Yang and two accomplices, Liu Xiaoli and Yue Bin, have been arrested, but a fourth suspect named Sun Chenggui is still at large.

Liu is suing the Xi'an Sports Lottery Center and Xi'an Sports Administration.

Shaanxi Provincial Sports Administration Director Li Minghua said the incident there was a "serious fraud case."

It has hugely infringed upon lottery buyers' interests, marred government reputation, and brought big losses to the province's economic and social development, Li said.

The administration attributed the incident to the lottery center's poor personnel evaluation, weak supervision of lottery sales, illegal lottery operation, as well as loopholes in China's lottery laws.

Moreover, a blast at a lottery market in Guiyang also prompted authorities to issue the ban. 

As many as 33 people were injured by the blast caused by a powerful explosive device on May 4. Police are still investigating the incident. 

Wang Xiaorong, official of the Shanghai Welfare Distribution Center, said the stop on sales would be temporary.

The ban did not affect sales of other lotteries, such as computer lottery and instant tickets sold at fixed lottery booths, Wang added.

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