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National lottery ban after Xi'an row
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-05-12 09:34
The China Welfare Lottery Issuing Center and China Sports Lottery
Administration Center applied a national ban on sales of
scratch-and-win tickets after after a recent sports lottery fraud in Xi'an,
Shaanxi Province, and a blast at a lottery market in Guiyang, Guizhou
Province.
The Sports
Administration of Shaanxi Province said Tuesday Jia Anqing,
the director of the Xi'an Lottery Center has been ordered to
resign, with deputy director Zhang Yongmin being temporarily removed from the post
for investigation.
The national ban came after a previous suspension
of sports lottery tickets sales in Shaanxi because of the
notorious Xi'an BMW fraud.
On March 23, 18-year-old Liu Liang drew a top prize ticket at the sports
lottery sales site in Xi'an, winning 120,000 yuan (US$14,500) in cash and a new
BMW car worth 480,000 yuan (US$58,000).
A day later, the Xi'an lottery center said the ticket Liu submitted was faked
and refused to give him the prize.
When Liu protested, the center held a press conference saying Liu's ticket
had been altered. But Liu told the press the faked ticket was not the original
one he drew.
Yang Yongming, a private contractor of the sports lottery tickets, later
confessed to police that he had changed tickets to try to win prizes himself.
Yang and two accomplices, Liu Xiaoli and Yue Bin, have been arrested, but a
fourth suspect named Sun Chenggui is still at large.
Liu is suing
the Xi'an Sports Lottery Center and Xi'an Sports Administration.
Shaanxi Provincial Sports Administration Director Li
Minghua said the incident there was a "serious fraud case."
It has hugely infringed upon lottery buyers' interests, marred government
reputation, and brought big losses to the province's economic and social
development, Li said.
The administration attributed the incident to the lottery center's poor
personnel evaluation, weak supervision of lottery sales, illegal lottery
operation, as well as loopholes in China's lottery laws.
Moreover, a blast at a lottery market
in Guiyang also prompted authorities to issue the ban.
As many as 33 people were injured by the blast caused by a powerful explosive device
on May 4. Police are still investigating the incident.
Wang Xiaorong, official of the Shanghai
Welfare Distribution Center, said the stop on sales would be temporary.
The ban did not affect sales of other lotteries, such as
computer lottery and instant tickets sold at fixed lottery booths, Wang
added.
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