Sales of lottery tickets in Korea jumped to a 12-year high in 2015 as hundreds of new stores selling tickets opened amid a prolonged economic slump, government data showed Thursday. 

Lottery sales stood at 3.55 trillion won ($2.95 billion) last year, up 272.4 billion won from the previous year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

The ministry said sales were the highest since 2003, when sales stood at 4.2 trillion won following the introduction of the online lottery game Lotto. Sales fell the following year due to strengthened government regulations

Online lotteries’ sales gained 6.8 percent on-year to hit 3.26 trillion won last year, the data showed.

The ministry also attributed the surge in sales to some 432 new retailers selling lottery tickets in 2015 and improved public awareness of lotteries.

The lottery sales value accounted for 0.23 percent of the country‘s total gross domestic product last year, up 0.01 percentage point from a year earlier.

(hnpark@heraldcorp.com)