‘I was greedy’: compulsive gambler in China spends US$34,000 in 3 months on lottery scratch cards, won once total of US$137
- ‘Little hobby’ becomes frenzied habit as losing scratch cards piled up
- Woman ‘wakes up’ to addiction problem, gets job to pay off debts
A compulsive gambler in China has racked up debts of 250,000 yuan (US$34,000) in just three months after she became hooked on lottery scratch cards.
Xiaofu, a 28-year-old woman from Shaanxi province in the northwest of the country, said she once bought 17,000 yuan (US$2,300) worth of lottery scratch tickets in one day at the height of her addiction.
Scratch cards have become hugely popular in China over the past two years because they are cheap, easy to buy and require no skill.
According to China’s finance ministry, from January to September 2023, the mainland public spent 428.5 billion yuan (US$58.7 billion) on the lottery, a rise of nearly 55 per cent year-on-year.
Instant scratch cards generated 86.8 billion yuan with an 80.7 per cent increase in the first nine months of 2023.
Not only do young people buy cards for themselves, they give them to friends and sometimes as wedding gifts. There are even life-streaming events online in which people excitedly watch each other scratching to win.