China’s sports lottery suffered no World Cup hangover in August, as sales maintained the explosive growth the sector has enjoyed this year.

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced that overall lottery sales in the month of August had exceeded RMB41.8b (US$6.07b), up 19.2% from the same month last year, and a new monthly sales record for a non-World Cup month. For the year-to-date, total lottery sales are up nearly one-quarter to RMB341.6b ($49.6b).

August’s growth was almost entirely due to sports lottery sales, which shot up 36.6% to RMB24b, while the formerly dominant welfare lottery category could manage only a 1.8% rise to RMB17.8b. For the year-to-date, sports lottery sales are up 46.2% to RMB194.2b, while the welfare lottery is up 4.6% to RMB147.5b.

The sports lottery’s remarkable growth is all the more remarkable given that August was well past the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which saw sports lottery sales more than double year-on-year in June and July.