China’s lottery sales fell nearly 11% in August as the sector continues to wait out the government’s ‘temporary’ suspension of online sales.

China’s Ministry of Finance reported that lottery sales fell 10.9% to RMB 28.1b (US $4.41b) in August. Welfare lottery sales fell 11.8% to RMB 15b while sports lottery sales dipped 9.9% to RMB 13.1b.

For the first eight months of 2015, overall sales are off 1.8% to RMB 242.8b, with the welfare lottery down 0.4% to RMB 133.4b and sports sales off 4.2% to RMB 109.4b.

The temporary suspension of online lottery sales that began in March has been credited with helping to depress the H1 figures of lottery operator Rexlot Holdings, which formerly sold tickets through its Okooo.com site. Rexlot said its lottery turnover was down 7% to HKD 848.8m ($109.5m) in the first six months of 2015. Profit took a harder hit, falling 23% to HKD 342.2m.