China’s national football team did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Chinese bettors nevertheless spent at least RMB83.3 billion (US$11.6 billion) on state-run football lottery products during the tournament.

The figure is remarkable by itself. It becomes more revealing when considered alongside what Chinese authorities were doing at the same time.

While authorised lottery outlets processed billions of yuan in wagers, police were dismantling networks connected to offshore betting platforms, arresting domestic agents and targeting the payment services used to move money between illegal operators and Chinese customers.

Together, the two developments illustrate Beijing’s gambling policy: capture demand through a state-controlled channel while suppressing every alternative operating outside it.

Single-match football lottery sales reached approximately RMB83.3 billion between the opening match on 8 June and the eve of the final on 19 July, according to official lottery data reported by Asia Gaming Brief.

Weekly sales began at RMB6.87 billion before rising to RMB15.15 billion. They subsequently reached RMB16.27 billion, peaked at RMB17.20 billion and remained above RMB16 billion for another week.

This translates into more than RMB2.4 billion in average daily sales.

The actual legal total was higher. The published figure only covered single-match football products and ended before the World Cup final. It did not include other Sports Lottery products or sales recorded during the final itself.

Demand was therefore enormous despite China’s absence from the competition.

Mainland China does not have a conventional licensed betting industry. The China Sports Lottery and China Welfare Lottery are its authorised gambling products, while private sportsbooks and commercial online betting platforms remain prohibited.

The state decides which matches can be offered, how wagers are structured and how much money is returned through prizes. Legal purchases are also tied to authorised physical outlets.

During the World Cup, the Sports Lottery warned that it had not authorised any form of online ticket sales. It described physical shops as the only legitimate purchasing channel after customers reported people posing as lottery retailers on social platforms.

That restriction helps explain why an illegal market continues to exist alongside such a large state operation.

Offshore platforms and underground agents offer mobile access, remote payments and a broader selection of markets. The legal lottery may be enormous, but it is not necessarily the most convenient option for customers.

Immediately after the tournament, the Ministry of Public Security’s cybersecurity bureau publicised ten illegal gambling cases investigated across several provinces.

The cases covered multiple parts of the underground market: representatives of overseas platforms, customer recruiters, people placing wagers for others and groups providing payment settlement services.

Police in Ningbo detained 29 people connected to an overseas betting website. Other operations were identified in Hubei, Shaanxi, Hunan, Sichuan and Qinghai.

In Nanchong, authorities targeted a group allegedly processing payments for an overseas gambling platform. Sixteen suspects were detained and electronic equipment was seized, according to the official account reported by China Daily.

By targeting recruiters and payment intermediaries, Beijing is attacking the infrastructure connecting offshore operators with mainland customers. Authorities also warned that individual bettors could face penalties, even when they were not involved in organising the activity.

The RMB83.3 billion result proves that China can channel extraordinary betting demand into a state-controlled product without creating a private sportsbook industry.

It does not prove that illegal betting has been displaced.

If the legal lottery fully satisfied demand, overseas platforms would have fewer reasons to recruit mainland customers and less need for domestic payment networks. The police cases show that a substantial parallel market remains active.

China’s World Cup policy was therefore not a choice between gambling and prohibition. It was an attempt to determine where betting could occur, who could profit from it and which transactions the state could monitor.

The lottery captured at least US$11.6 billion. The crackdown surrounding it showed how much demand still refuses to remain inside that boundary.

We track how money, players and regulation move across East Asia's gaming markets — including the parts that don't show up in the official figures. If that's your world, reply. The best context usually comes from comparing notes.

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East Asia Reports
Web: eastasiareports.com · Email: [email protected]
Author — Adrià Mas Rodríguez