Greek lottery and betting operator OPAP swung back into profitable territory in the third quarter although its retail operations have once again been shut due to pandemic precautions.

Figures released Wednesday show OPAP generated revenue of €391m in the three months ending September 30, a 0.7% fall from the same period last year but more than triple the Q2 2020 sum. Pre-pandemic cost controls allowed earnings to inch up 1.5% to €105m while net profits rose 8.3% to €52.8m.

OPAP’s Q3 benefited from the reopening of its retail operations in June after COVID-19 forced the closure of its lottery, betting and video lottery terminal (VLT) networks in March. Numeric lotteries remained broadly negative in Q3 thanks to retail capacity restrictions, with revenue down 9.3% to €179m, while the Instant & Passives segment fell 14.1% to €27.1m.

Betting enjoyed no such slump, rising nearly 14% to €104.6m as major leagues resumed play following their pandemic suspension. Live betting accounted for 45% of Q3’s total, with 35.5% of live bets now coming via Playtech-powered self-service betting terminals.