(Yicai) Aug. 27 -- China’s lottery sales increased 54 percent in June and July from a year earlier, buoyed by the enthusiasm for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Lottery sales in China climbed 69 percent to CNY87.6 billion (USD13 billion) last month from a year ago, the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday. The month before, they increased 40 percent to CNY76 billion, bringing the total for June and July to CNY163.6 billion (USD24.3 billion), up 54 percent from the same period last year.

The finance ministry attributed the sharp increase in lottery sales in the past two months to the surge in sports lottery sales spurred by the FIFA World Cup, which was held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

China’s sports lottery sales rose 86 percent to CNY131.2 billion in the two months ended July 31 from a year earlier, accounting for about 80 percent of the total lottery sales, MOF data showed. Among that, sports betting-style lottery sales soared 134 percent to CNY108.1 billion.

An employee at a sports lottery outlet in Wuhan told Yicai that the store’s lottery sales during the FIFA World Cup roughly tripled from the same period last year.

The boost from the FIFA World Cup helped China’s lottery sales return to growth, according to MOF data. In fact, lottery sales fell 4.7 percent in the first five months of the year from a year earlier. But with the strong performance in June and July, they rebounded, up 12 percent to CNY414.5 billion in the first seven months from a year ago.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione