BEIJING - A total of 797 million yuan ($129 million) from lottery sales will be used to improve social welfare, sports and the well-being of handicapped people in the Tibet autonomous region, China's Ministry of Finance said Saturday.

China regularly uses money from lottery sales to help fund local welfare.

In the first four months of 2013, welfare lottery sales rose 14.9 percent from a year earlier, while sports lottery sales climbed 18.6 percent, according to the ministry.