China Sports Lottery Seeks New Mascot

China’s sports lottery is seeking support from the public to create a new mascot.

The lottery officials have introduced a design contest for a new sports lottery mascot to raise awareness of the revival of the lottery, which must express the “core values of good, positive, and enterprising.” The contest will accept public submissions by May 28 and the winner will receive RMB80k ($11,317) before tax.

After the 49-day shutdown, China restarted the sale of its sports and welfare lottery on March 11. Around a week after the sale restarted, the National Sports Lottery Centre announced that lottery services were running at a capacity of two-thirds, and the month ended with the resumption of sales in Hubei province.

The authorities urged consumers to show “restraint” in buying lottery tickets and “please bet rationally.” Sales of sports lottery “affiliate games” in the week ending April 5 totalled just under RMB1.1b (US$ 152.5 m), which reflects nearly 69% decrease from the period last year.