China’s official sports lottery sales overtook their welfare lottery counterpart in April and further growth is expected in the run-up to next month’s World Cup kickoff.

On Wednesday, China’s state-run media outlet Xinhua reported that April’s overall lottery sales totaled RMB41.7m (US$6.5b), a 9% rise over the same month last year. For the year to date, total lottery sales are up 9.3% to RMB 145.8b.

April’s sports lottery operations totaled RMB22b, a 12.7% year-on-year increase, outpacing the traditionally stronger welfare lottery business, which grew only 5.3% to RMB19.7b.

The sports lottery business is expected to soar in tandem with the June 14 kickoff of the 2018 FIFA World Cup football tournament in Russia. Sports lottery sales nearly doubled during the 2014 FIFA tourney, and a similarly healthy spike was enjoyed during the 2016 UEFA European Championship.