From January to August, a total of 375.76 billion yuan of lottery tickets were sold nationwide, up 51.6 per cent from a year earlier, the data showed.

The surging lottery ticket sales coincided with months of mostly soft economic data, with the unemployment rate of job seekers aged between 16 and 24 drawing particular attention from policymakers.

China’s youth unemployment rate hit a record high of 21.3 per cent in June, according to official data.

Some social media commentators have linked the sharp rise in lottery sales in recent months to young people’s deepening economic worries.

“Young people are more likely to win 5 million yuan in the lottery than to earn 5 million from work,” one wrote on the popular Chinese microblog Weibo.

The country’s statistics bureau abruptly stopped publishing the youth unemployment statistic in August, saying it had been suspended as officials sought to “optimise” its data collection methodology, triggering a wave of social media criticism.

Feeling the pinch of rising housing costs and the slowing economy, jobless graduates have been leaving cities that have traditionally provided a stepping stone to middle-class wealth.

Earlier this year, China’s social media was alit with videos of jobless university graduates visiting temples to seek the blessings of the gods.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/chinese-lottery-ticket-sales-soar-amid-weak-economy-job-prospects-20231001-p5e8wj.html