China’s lottery revenue slowed to an absolute trickle in February after the suspension of all sales, which still haven’t resumed in the country’s capital Beijing.

Figures released by China’s Ministry of Finance show lottery sales totaled just RMB1m (US$141k) in February, down from RMB28.1b in the same month last year. Lottery operations were suspended in January for the Lunar New Year holiday but that suspension was later extended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That shutdown eventually stretched to 49 days, encompassing the entire month of February. As such, it’s unclear exactly how the lottery generated that RMB1m. Lottery sales began to resume in limited capacity by mid-March and resumed in Hubei province – the original epicenter of the pandemic – by the end of the month, with Hubei’s capital Wuhan resuming sales on April 8.

Some Chinese provinces have launched campaigns to alert lottery customers to the resumption of lottery operations, including billboards detailing the ways in which lottery funds support charitable causes, effectively painting lottery purchases as something of a patriotic duty.