BEIJING?- China's welfare lottery sales hit a record 151.03 billion yuan (about 24.08 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012, up 18 percent year on year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced Sunday.

Lottery sales raised more than 46.4 billion yuan for public welfare funding last year, according to the ministry's press release.

Half of the country's public welfare funds go to China's treasury, while the other half is distributed to local governments across the country. Funds are then allocated to social welfare programs and charities.

The aggregate sales volume of the welfare lottery has exceeded 787.6 billion yuan since its debut in 1987, and more than 253 billion yuan in public welfare funds have benefited hundreds of millions of people around the country, figures from the press release show.

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