China’s lottery revenue increases for June thanks to increased sports betting

Welfare lottery revenue was down slightly compared to last month, decreasing 0.9% from 2020 to ¥11.22bn. Within the welfare lottery, lotto ticket sales were down to ¥6.92bn, instant win revenue was down to ¥2.17bn, and keno figures were up to ¥2.13bn.

With regards to sports lottery, total revenue amounted to ¥23.39bn. Although lotto sales decreased to ¥5.58bn, sports betting revenue increased 54.3% to ¥15.62bn. Instant win sports lottery ticket revenue also increased ¥1.37bn to ¥4.36bn.

Sales were largely affected by the suspension of Zhongfu online video-based lottery games, changes in the rules of Happy 8 keno-based lottery games, and a ban on high-frequency quick-open lottery games.

The Guangdong province proved to be the most lucrative area, generating ¥11.91bn – a 28.2% decrease from last month. Zhejiang was next with ¥9.35bn, followed by Shandong with ¥7.35bn.