Lottery sales in China surged 30.8 percent year-on-year in December 2011, but the growth was 0.3 percentage point slower than the previous month, the Ministry of Finance said Friday.

Lottery sales reached 22.5 billion yuan (3.6 billion U.S. dollars) in December, the ministry said in a statement.

Of the total, welfare lottery ticket sales reached 12.9 billion yuan, up 25.7 percent year-on-year.

Sales of sports lottery tickets jumped 38.2 percent from a year earlier to 9.6 billion yuan.

In 2011, lottery sales amounted to 221.6 billion yuan, up 33.3 percent year-on-year, the statement said. ( It noted that 31 provincial-level regions saw lottery sales rise in November from a year earlier, with Jiangsu province posting the largest increase at 1.1 billion yuan.

The money raised through lotteries is divided into the jackpot, lottery management fees, and lottery public funds, according to regulations.