WELFARE lottery sales worth nearly 450 billion yuan (US$66 billion) were sold in China by the end of May since the welfare program was launched 23 years ago, helping to raise 149 million yuan for the public welfare fund, an official from lottery administration agency said in Beijing yesterday.

The public welfare fund is used to build and expand more than 150,000 welfare facilities, including social welfare institutes, homes for the elderly in rural areas, shelters for homeless minors and schools for orphans, said Bao Xuequan, director of the Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center at a two-day international forum on the reform and development of the social welfare service, held at the weekend.

The fund is also used to help AIDS orphans, disaster survivors and the disabled, as well as to provide social medical aids, humanitarian assistance and legal assistance to people in need, Bao said.

China's welfare lottery started in 1987, when the Civil Affairs Ministry was authorized by the State Council, the Cabinet, to raise welfare funds through lottery sales. Many welfare lotteries have since been established such as spot lottery, lotto and keno.