Online lottery operations in China stopped in March of last year due to evidence suggesting fraud among officials of the lottery administration centers across several provinces. Reports have now emerged that state the government of China is planning to relaunch the activity.

It is believed that the Chinese government is going to put in necessary regulations for the activity to take place and then create a new group to oversee online lottery gaming options. It is unclear as to how the online lottery sales will take place and be regulated but it seems the option is on the table.

Back in March of last year, lottery sales that took place online were suspended after audits took place that showed suspicious activity in the lottery offices of Chinese provinces. With the suspension of online lottery sales, the year-on-year returns for lottery sales dropped by 3.8%.

A pilot online lottery program will now take place with the officials of the Chinese government approving two companies to take part. 500.com and Sporterry.cn will be part of the testing phase and in the future, it is believed the government will give official authorization for operators to offer online lottery ticket sales.

500.com was majorly affected by the suspension of the lottery sales, earning no revenues during the three quarters left of 2015. When the year ended, the company earned only RMB99.6 million in net revenues which is almost 90% lower than what they earned in 2014.

In March of this year, provider of technology for the lottery industry, AGTech Holdings, released their annual financial report which included a statement by CEO of the company, Sun Ho. In the statement, Ho said that the government of China is expected to approve new options for lottery sales, in reference to mobile and online gaming options.