China’s national lottery market experienced robust expansion in September 2026, with total sales increasing by 27.3% year-on-year to reach RMB67.39 billion ($10.04 billion), according to official figures published by the Ministry of Finance.
This represented an absolute increase of RMB15.33 billion ($2.28 billion) compared with September 2025, driven primarily by exceptional performance across sports lottery products. Total sports lottery sales climbed to RMB50.82 billion ($7.57 billion) for the month, while welfare lottery sales experienced a decline to RMB16.57 billion ($2.47 billion).
The Ministry of Finance attributed a significant portion of this growth to the continued ripple effects of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which successfully sustained heightened consumer demand for sports betting products well beyond the conclusion of the tournament itself.
Sports betting leads market performance
Sports betting emerged as the standout category in September, generating RMB39.39 billion ($5.87 billion) in ticket sales. This represented a remarkable year-on-year surge of 73.1%, accounting for approximately 58.4% of China’s entire lottery market. The absolute increase of RMB16.63 billion ($2.48 billion) in sports betting outpaced the overall net growth of the national market, effectively offsetting contractions recorded in several other product segments.
In contrast, traditional lotto products generated RMB13.94 billion ($2.08 billion), capturing 20.7% of total sales but suffering a year-on-year decline of 7.3%. Instant lottery sales also contracted, falling 14.9% to RMB9.97 billion ($1.49 billion), while video lottery products recorded nominal sales of just RMB53 million ($7.9 million). Keno was among the few secondary categories to achieve positive momentum, registering a 19.5% sales increase to RMB4.09 billion ($609.9 million), which accounted for 6.1% of the overall market.
Cumulative nine-month growth and widespread provincial gains
Looking at the broader economic picture across the first nine months of 2026, China’s cumulative lottery sales reached RMB545.82 billion ($81.33 billion). According to ministry data, this represented a 14.6% increase, yielding an additional RMB69.68 billion ($10.38 billion) compared with the corresponding period in 2025. Sports lottery organizations accumulated RMB397.72 billion ($59.26 billion) between January and September, marking a 25.7% year-on-year rise. Meanwhile, welfare lottery revenues totaled RMB148.10 billion ($22.07 billion), representing a 7.3% decrease.
Geographically, the expansion proved remarkably widespread. All 31 provincial-level regions across China reported year-on-year sales growth during September. Shandong province registered the largest absolute increase, with ticket sales rising by RMB1.6 billion ($238.4 million) compared with September 2025. Henan followed closely with an increase of RMB1.43 billion ($213.07 million), while Zhejiang and Jiangsu recorded additional sales of RMB1.16 billion ($172.84 million) and RMB1.05 billion ($156.45 million), respectively.
