时间：2022-09-26 11:35:29
After launching a nationwide audit of China’s lottery funds in November of last year， the National Audit Office （NAO） released a report on June 25， 2015， revealing extensive corruption relating to the use of lottery funds across the country.
Covering 18 provinces， 228 lottery institutions and 4，965 individual lotteries， this was the first large-scale audit of lottery funds conducted in China’s history. The NAO found that more than a quarter of funds covered by the audit， or 16.9 billion yuan （US$2.72bn）， had either been misappropriated or embezzled.
73 departments were found to have used fake or fraudulent documents to embezzle 596 million yuan （US$96m）. 32 of them appropriated 3.1 billion yuan （US$507m） to construct office buildings， training centers and hotels. 141 departments used 383 million yuan （US$61.7m） in lottery funds to finance subsidies and allowances for their staff， while 122 departments used lottery funds to buy public vehicles or organize overseas travel for officials.
Among the 18 provinces covered by the audit， 17 had engaged in lottery sales over the Internet without approval from the Ministry of Finance， a legal requirement under Chi- nese law. In Chongqing alone， local lottery authorities illegally sold 514 million yuan（US$82.8m） worth of lottery tickets online. Some officials even set up fake lotteries in certain localities.
Claiming that the authorities have reclaimed some of the money， the report did not specify whether these officials had been punished for their abuses， nor did it offer any suggestions on how to address the industrywide problems that it reveals.
Flaws
For many experts， the existence of massive corruption is only a symptom of some fundamental and systematic flaws within the lottery industry that can only be solved with a radical overhaul.
For example， under the current regulations which were passed in 2012， government lottery agencies are allowed to pocket up to 15 percent of total lottery funds to cover “administrative costs，” far higher than the international rate. In the US， for instance， cost of administration， which covers such expenses as salaries and advertising， is only about 5 percent of total lottery funds.
The fact that China has seen a boom in the lottery industry over the past few years also means that lottery agencies simply have access to a huge amount of money that far exceeds their normal expenses. For example， in 2014 alone， lottery ticket sales totaled 382.4 billion yuan （US$61.6bn）， an increase of 23.6 percent over the previous year. Roughly 14 percent of that sum， or US$8.6 billion， was funneled to lottery agencies as “administrative fees.”
It is estimated that the funds allocated to administration have increased sevenfold between 2002 and 2012. As administrative costs typically do not increase proportionally with that of sales， it is not surprising to see that some lottery agencies are spending this money elsewhere.
For example， top lottery administrator China Welfare Lottery Management Center was found to have spent 222 million yuan （US$35m） on a “training center” in Huang Shan， a popular tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Anhui Province. The center includes a luxury resort， seven restaurants and a 2，000-square-meter open area covered with red carpet. People buy lottery tickets in Dongguan， Guangdong Province， October 2013
In Yunnan Province， local lottery agencies have even used some lottery funds to pay “bonuses” to staff members in the three governmental bodies that regulate the lottery： the provincial finance department， the civil affairs department and local recreation bureaus.
“How can you expect these departments to regulate the lottery agencies when they receive bonuses from those they’re regulating？” asked Feng Baiming， director of Henan University of Economics and Law’s Lottery Research Institute.
Moreover， the management of many lotteries is subcontracted to private companies， usually for an amount equivalent to the 15 percent administrative fee. In this way， the industry can become a hotbed of corruption and rent-seeking， as officials can embezzle by giving contracts to companies with whom they have a relationship， a practice that was not investigated during the audit.
For Profit
With the existence of this high administrative fee， which effectively serves as a commission， the lottery industry is essentially run more like a commercial， profit-driven business， rather than the public welfare fund it was intended to be.
The result is that lottery agencies have developed new strategies to boost ticket sales. One example of this is the need to “multiply”tickets to win larger jackpots. Unlike many developed countries， where prizes can climb into the hundreds of millions of dollars， China caps jackpots for a single ticket at 5 million yuan （US$805，000）. If the pool exceeds 5 million yuan， consumers can only win additional money by “multiplying” their ticket， or paying the price of multiple tickets for a single combination of numbers. For example， to be able to win a 100-million-yuan jackpot， consumers would need to “multiply” their ticket 20 times over， which means purchasing the same numbers 20 times.
According to Su Guojing， founder of research institute China Lottery Industry Salon， this practice， which aims to encourage people to spend more on lottery tickets， is a major reason behind the recent jump in ticket sales， which have been growing at a much faster rate than that of the average consumer’s disposable income.
“As lottery agencies devote themselves to encouraging and enticing people to spend more on lottery tickets， the lottery industry becomes more and more like a gambling business，” said Su.
He argued that it makes a vicious circle； the commercialization of the lottery industry not only creates more corruption because of the increased revenue going to “administrative fees，” but also it discourages people from seeing the lottery industry as a resource for public welfare， which may explain the public’s lack of awareness over the use of lottery funds.
Overhaul Needed
In theory， as 15 percent of the total lottery funds goes to administration and 58 percent is allocated for lottery prizes， about 27 percent of lottery funds is set aside for two purposes： public welfare and sports. The country’s two major lotteries are actually called the China Welfare Lottery and China Sports Lottery.
However， as there is no official legislation governing the use of lottery funds， it is very difficult to track where the money really goes. Under the agreement reached between various agencies， the funds are split 50-50 between the central government and local governments. Among the funds allocated to the central government， 60 percent is merged into the National Social Security Fund （NSSF）. This number amounted to 27 billion yuan （US$4.3bn） in 2014， which accounted for almost half of the NSSF’s total revenue that year.
According to Feng Baiming， this arrangement is a misappropriation of lottery funds， as the majority of the money is used to counteract the NSSF’s deficit that has resulted from China’s aging population， rather than to support designated public welfare projects.
But while the public has at least some idea where the lottery funds allocated to the central government end up， there is minimal information available about those given to local governments. Under current regulations， local governments have no obligation to publicize the use of lottery funds.
Of the 282 cases of funds misuse listed in the audit report， 48 percent are related to various local departments. In Yangzhou， Jiangsu Province， the funds set aside for a nursery home were used to fund the construction of a high-end serviced apartment building. In Wenzhou， Zhejiang Province， the local finance bureau allocated 100 million yuan（US$16m） of lottery funds to a State-owned company as a subsidy.
Since the audit report has caused a public outcry over the abuse of lottery funds， there have been calls for some serious industry reform. In April， the authorities suspended all online lottery sales， which many interpreted as a sign that a major plan for reform may be under way.
Wang Xuehong， a lottery researcher at Peking University， told NewsChina that China’s lottery industry regulations， which were established when the industry was tiny， have become obsolete at a time when the lottery has developed into a 400-billion-yuan business. “China needs to set up a new national body to supervise the lottery industry，” said Wang.
But given the scale of overall corruption within the government， the central government will need more than just a new administrative body to overhaul the culture of corruption entrenched in the lottery business.