China’s lottery now operating at 2/3 capacity of pre-virus shutdown

China’s state-run lottery operations are now working at about two-thirds of their capacity before they were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, China’s National Sports Lottery Center issued an update on the progress made since March 11, when the authorities gave the okay to resume operations following the unprecedented 49-day shutdown prompted by the coronavirus crisis.

The notice said that over 110k sports lottery terminals had resumed operations as of March 17, representing over 67% of the nation’s total complement of installed units. The notice didn’t specifically mention the welfare lottery, but its sales have also resumed.

The March 11 announcement specifically acknowledged that sales would only resume in ‘eligible areas,’ and Thursday’s notice indicated that sales had yet to resume in Hubei province – the site of the original coronavirus outbreak – as well as in Beijing and Tibet.