China’s Ministry of Finance has released data on the official lottery products of Mainland China that show the country has seen an increase in sales of 8.9% when considered year-on-year (YOY) totals.

In May, total sales came in at RMB37.70 billion which is equal to $5.51 billion US dollars. When looking at April totals, this was a decrease of 1.4% but still an increase in YOY numbers.

The data showed that sports lottery sales came in at RMB19.47 billion which is an increase of 19.8%. Welfare lottery totals came in at RMB18.23 billion for May which is a decrease of .8% YOY. For the month of May, sales increased in 22 of the 31 provinces/municipalities of Mainland China where lottery tickets sales are authorized.

For 2016, the Guangdong province reported the highest combined sales for sports lottery and welfare lottery tickets but saw a decrease this year of 4.3% when looking at May totals. However, for the month of May, the area was still the largest grossing market with total sales of RMB3.78 billion in lottery tickets.

An increase of 6.8% in lottery product sales totals was seen in Mainland China when looking at the first five months of this year. In total, RMB171.19 billion was generated. From the beginning of the year until May 31st, the country saw a total of RMB88.29 billion earned in welfare lottery sales which is an increase of 2.8% YOY. Sports lottery ticket sales were up to RMB82.90 billion which is an increase of just over 11% YOY.