Investigation into and regulation of lottery operations necessary

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE recently said at least 20 percent of the revenue derived from lottery sales will be used on public welfare. But that will not solve the problems in the domestic lottery industry, a Beijing Youth Daily commentary says:

There are long-standing problems in the domestic lottery industry. In particular, the State-owned agencies that manage lottery sales take a high percentage of the revenues for their own expenses and the whole industry lacks transparency.

In some extreme cases, while the lottery contains the words "social welfare" in its name, the money is spent on purchasing luxurious cars for the lottery officials, instead of being used to help those in need of help.