China’s lottery sales have nearly recovered from their lengthy COVID-19 shutdown, with sales in the month of June almost matching those from one year earlier.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that June’s lottery sales totaled just under RMB33.6b (US$4.8b), only 3.4% below June 2019’s sales. For the year-to-date, sales amounted to RMB123.9b, down 41.7% from the first half of 2019.

China’s lotteries, which suspended sales in January for the week-long lunar new year celebrations, extended that sales halt in February as COVID-19 decimated the city of Wuhan. Lottery operations remained suspended for 49 days, with some markets such as Beijing shut for even longer.

June’s overall sales benefited from the resumption of several international sports competitions, particularly the major European football leagues. Sports lottery sales totaled RMB18.3b, down 3.1% year-on-year but 59% better than the product generated in April. Welfare lottery sales were down 3.9% to RMB15.3b.