BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China's lottery sales rose 9 percent year on year to 41.7 billion yuan (about 6.48 billion U.S. dollars) in April, official data showed Wednesday.

Total sales in the first four months of this year stood at 145.8 billion yuan, up 9.3 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

In April, sales of welfare lottery tickets went up 5.3 percent to 19.7 billion yuan, while sports lottery sales rose 12.7 percent to about 22 billion yuan.

Twenty-six provincial-level regions posted year-on-year sales increases in the Jan.-April period, with Hunan, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shaanxi and Jiangxi leading the growth.

Under lottery management rules, money from lottery ticket sales covers administrative fees, public welfare projects and prize money.