China’s lottery sales soared by more than three-fifths in July as football-mad customers stormed sports lottery offices for the World Cup finale.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that overall lottery sales had hit RMB 54.4b (US$7.91b) in the month of July, a nearly 62% spike over the same month last year, as bettors raced to place their wagers on the second half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament.

Both June and July’s lottery results benefited from bettors’ excitement over the World Cup, although July’s overall sales took a slight dip from June’s record result.

July’s sports lottery sales soared 117.5% year-on-year to RMB35.5b, although this was RMB4b lower than the sports lottery earned in June, which included the group stage of the World Cup tournament. Overall, ticket sales specifically related to the 2018 World Cup hit a record RMB46.34b, a nearly fourfold increase from the 2014 event’s returns.