Alibaba's Alipay affiliate controls how Chinese netizens spend their money; and now Alibaba Group owns a lottery operator and controls how Chinese consumers waste their money.

According to news from China Money Network, Hong Kong-listed lottery operator AGTech Holdings Ltd. is selling HKD1.68 billion of shares and HKD712.6 million of convertible bonds to a company owned by both Alibaba Group and Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial.

AGTech claims to cover about 80% of mainland China, and the deal with Alibaba will help expand its services throughout the nation.

The lottery company also says only less than 10% of mainland Chinese consumers participate in the lottery, compared with 56% in Hong Kong. So the company says there is still lots of growth potential in spreading the ills of the lottery to many more people.