Sales of lottery tickets in mainland China grew by almost 9 percent in May as Chinese wagered more in sports.

Data from China’s Ministry of Finance showed that total sales of official lottery products in May grew by 8.9 percent to RMB37.70 billion (US$5.51 billion) in year-on-year terms. The lottery sales, however, was 1.4 percent slower last month compared to April’s data.

For the January to May 2017 period, total sales of lottery products in mainland China in rose by 6.8 percent to RMB171.19 billion (US$25.13 billion).

The sales were led by sports lottery, which grew 19.8 percent to RMB19.47 billion ($2.91 billion). Welfare lottery sales, however, decreased by 0.8 percent year-on-year, to RMB18.23 billion ($2.68 billion.