BEIJING - China's July lottery sales rose 37.1 percent year-on-year to 18.2 billion yuan ($2.85 billion), the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Monday.

Of the lottery boom, sales of welfare lottery tickets surged 43.5 percent from a year earlier to 11.26 billion yuan, while sales of sports lottery tickets rose 27.9 percent to 6.95 billion yuan, said the statement.

The July sales figure took the total lottery sales in the first seven months to 119.35 billion yuan, up 31.9 percent year-on-year.

According to China's Regulations on Lottery Management, the money raised through lotteries is divided into three parts: the jackpot, lottery management fees, and lottery public funds.