Lottery sales in South Korea continues to see a positive growth in the first half of 2016, thanks to rising demand for chance games in the country.

Quoting data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Yonhap News Agency reported that sales of lottery tickets reached KRW1.89 trillion (USD1.69 billion) in the first six months of the year—a 6.9 percent spike from the KRW1.77 trillion (USD1.58 billion) in the same period last year.

That figure makes up 50.3 percent of the government’s KRW3.76 trillion (USD3.35 billion) sales target for 2016, the ministry said.

Strong demand for online lotteries was the main factor in the overall growth. Government data showed that online lottery ticket sales in the country rose 8.2 percent to hit KRW1.74 trillion (USD1.55 billion) in the January-June period.