Lottery News | Mark Six

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in many countries, including the U.S.A. and most of Europe. This remained so until after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to appear throughout the world as a means to raise revenue in addition to taxes.

Lotteries come in many formats. The prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold. More commonly the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the "50-50" draw where the organizers promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket resulting in the possibility of multiple winners.

The purchase of lottery tickets by large numbers of people is arguably economically irrational. However, in addition to the chance of winning, the ticket may enable some purchasers to experience a thrill and to indulge in a fantasy of becoming wealthy. If the entertainment value (or other non-monetary value) obtained by playing is high enough for a given individual, then the purchase of a lottery ticket could represent a gain in overall utility. In such a case, the monetary loss would be outweighed by the non-monetary gain, thus making the purchase a rational decision for that individual.

The game - Mark Six

Mark Six is a lottery style game where players guess what numbers will be drawn out of a lottery machine. The lottery machine is a transparent plastic cylinder which contains colored balls numbered 1 to 49. The cylinder is rotated to provide randomization in the drawing process.
Players choose six numbers out of a possible 49. Each selection of the numbers costs 5 HKD and is one selection of the results of the lottery draw. In the draw, 7 numbers are drawn. The first six numbers drawn are called the "drawn numbers". The last one drawn is called the "extra number". Often, in Cantonese this number is called a 'half number'.
As of 2008, prizes are awarded as follows:

Prize - Numbers color chosen

1st Division Prize - All six drawn numbers
2nd Division Prize - Five drawn numbers and the extra number
3rd Division Prize - Five drawn numbers
4th Division Prize - Four drawn numbers and the extra number
5th Division Prize - Four drawn numbers
6th Division Prize - Three drawn numbers and the extra number
7th Division Prize - Three drawn numbers
The payout for the 1st - 3rd division prizes depend on the sales of that draw, and the presence of Jackpots and Snowball (see below). The 1st prize is guaranteed to be at least HK$5 million. Where there are multiple winners for a division, the prize is shared.

The lower order prizes are fixed as shown below:

4th Division Prize - Fixed at HK$4,800
5th Division Prize - Fixed at HK$320
6th Division Prize - Fixed at HK$160
7th Division Prize - Fixed at HK$20