China’s state-run lottery operations reported their third straight month of falling sales as the country’s new rules on so-called ‘high-flight, quick-open game awards’ take their toll.

On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Finance reported that April’s overall lottery sales totaled RMB36b (US$5.2b), a 13.7% decline from April 2018’s result (albeit a modest improvement from March’s result). For the year-to-date, lottery sales are down 2.5% year-on-year to RMB142.3b.

Both the sports lottery and welfare lottery suffered declines in April. The sports lottery maintained its new status as the dominant option, even as its sales fell 10.4% to RMB19.7b. Welfare lottery sales fell harder, down 17.4% to just under RMB16.3b.

For the year-to-date, sports lottery sales are up 4.1% year-on-year to RMB77b, while the welfare lottery is down 9.2% to RMB65.3b.