The popularity of sports betting in China is driving Chinese lottery sales upward, according to the latest official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Data showed that sales of official lottery products in mainland China grew 15.1 percent to an estimated CNY36.93 billion (US$5.56 billion) in September.

The positive numbers were driven by the 24.4 percent rise in sales of sports lottery tickets. According to the Ministry, sports lottery tickets for September was at CNY19.32 billion.

This brings total sports lottery ticket sales for January to September period to CNY151.67 billion (US$22.82 billion), an increase of 9.9 percent.