The China Sports Lottery Administrative Center on Sunday launched two kinds of sports lotteries - the Olympic lottery and the Instant Lottery.

The Olympics-themed lottery will start issuing tickets on April 28 and end on August 7, the eve of the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games. Another four kinds of lottery tickets will be sold during the Games from August 8 to 23.

The Instant Lottery started selling tickets yesterday in Shandong Province and will go nationwide in May and June.

China`s first sports lottery ticket was sold in 1984 when Chinese athletes first took part in the Olympics at the Los Angeles Games.

Wang Weidong, director of the administrative center, said the Olympics-themed lottery would promote the Olympic spirit and spread the idea of the People`s Olympic as it was introduced by the organizers of the Beijing Games.