Double Color Ball Lottery

What the Double Color Ball is

Double Color Ball, known in Chinese as Shuangseqiu (双色球), is a "lotto-type" game run by the China Welfare Lottery, one of the country's two state lottery systems. It is issued centrally by the China Welfare Lottery Issuance and Administration Center and sold nationwide through a computer network, with the results drawn on live television at regular intervals².

It is the best-known draw game in the country and the one most people picture when they think of "the Chinese lottery." Each bet is a line of six red ball numbers chosen from 1 to 33, plus one blue ball number chosen from 1 to 16. The name "Double Color Ball" comes straight from this two-color structure: red numbers and a blue number, drawn from two separate machines².

The game sits alongside other welfare lottery draws such as Happy 8, FC 3D and Seven Lottery, and alongside the China Sports Lottery's games such as Super Lotto. Double Color Ball is the welfare side's flagship, and its draws are the ones that stop passers-by in front of shop screens on draw nights. For the wider picture of both systems, see the China lottery.

Buying is voluntary, and by purchasing a ticket you are considered to have accepted the game rules². There is no membership, no registration and no account: you pay your money, you get a paper ticket, and that ticket is your only proof of play.

How a draw works

A single bet consists of six red numbers from 1 to 33 and one blue number from 1 to 16². On draw night, six red balls and one blue ball are drawn, and your ticket wins according to how many you match.

There are two ways to pick your numbers. You can choose them yourself (self-selected), or ask the terminal to generate them randomly (machine-selected). Within those, there are three bet formats¹:

• Single bet (单式): one line of 6 red + 1 blue, CNY 2.
• Multiple bet (复式): pick more numbers than the minimum and every combination within them counts as a separate bet. A red-ball multiple is 7 to 20 red numbers with 1 blue; a blue-ball multiple is 6 red numbers with 2 to 16 blues; a full multiple combines both².
• Banker bet (胆拖): lock in 1 to 5 red numbers as "bankers" that appear in every combination, and add a pool of other numbers around them¹.

Each combination costs CNY 2, so a multiple bet's price is simply CNY 2 times the number of combinations it creates. A 7-red, 1-blue multiple, for example, is 7 combinations and costs CNY 14.

The prize table is fixed for the lower tiers and floating for the top two²:

The first and second prizes are paid from a single nationwide prize pool. Half of total sales goes to prizes, with 49 percent funding the current draw and 1 percent held as an adjustment fund². When nobody wins the top prizes, or when prize money exceeds the single-bet cap, the surplus rolls into the pool and is added to the next draw's first prize, which is how the headline jackpots build up over weeks².

There is also a special tier called the Fortune Prize (福运奖), paid for matching 3 red + 0 blue. It only operates when the prize pool stands at CNY 1.5 billion or more, and stops once the pool falls below CNY 300 million after a draw¹. Two other conditions attach to the top and bottom tiers: a first-prize win on a single ticket of CNY 20 or more earns an extra bonus payment, and the sixth prize likewise pays an additional amount on tickets of CNY 20 or more⁴.

Draw schedule: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

Double Color Ball draws three times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, at 21:15¹. Draw numbers are defined by the draw date and run in sequence through the calendar year, so a ticket will show a period number like 2026014 rather than a date².

The 21:15 slot makes it an evening event: shops fill up after dinner, and the results are known before most people go to bed. Sales close at the draw time, so a ticket bought after roughly 21:00 on a draw night belongs to the next draw, not the one about to happen¹.

The schedule slots neatly against the Sports Lottery's flagship. Super Lotto draws on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 21:25, so between the two games there is a big national lottery draw six nights a week, with only Friday covered by smaller games such as 7 Star Lottery⁵.

Top prize: CNY 10 million

The maximum first prize for a single CNY 2 bet is CNY 10 million, and the lottery's own publicity leans heavily on that "CNY 2 wins CNY 10 million" line⁷. The second prize tops out at CNY 5 million¹.

Two rules shape how much winners actually take home. First, single-bet prizes are capped at CNY 5 million under national regulations, with anything above the cap flowing back into the prize pool; the CNY 10 million headline for a single bet is reached through the bonus structure on qualifying tickets rather than the base prize alone². Second, if the first-prize payout per bet would fall below the second-prize payout per bet, the two prize funds are combined and split equally among all first- and second-prize winners, so the top tier never pays less than the tier below it².

Because the top prizes float, the actual amount depends on sales and the number of winners in any given draw. When several tickets hit the first prize in the same week, the pool is divided among them; when nobody wins, the money rolls forward and the following draw's headline figure grows.

For comparison with other Chinese games: Super Lotto's third prize is a fixed CNY 10,000, Pailie 5's top prize is CNY 100,000, and scratch cards such as Haoyun Shibei top out at CNY 400,000 on a CNY 10 ticket. Double Color Ball's CNY 10 million ceiling makes it the biggest regular prize on offer in the welfare lottery⁸.

Where tickets are sold

Double Color Ball is sold only through physical shops. China's lottery retail network runs on licensed storefronts, and official guidance is explicit that sales are generally conducted through brick-and-mortar outlets³.

In practice these are small, easy-to-spot shops with red China Welfare Lottery signage, found in residential neighborhoods, near markets and around transport hubs in every city. Inside you will see a counter with a betting terminal, a wall chart of recent results, and often a screen showing the live draw on draw nights. The clerk enters your numbers, you pay in cash, and the terminal prints your ticket.

There is no official online channel. Selling or buying Chinese lottery tickets over the internet is prohibited, and any website or app claiming to sell official Double Color Ball tickets is operating outside the system⁹. This matters for visitors in particular: the only legitimate way to play is to walk into a shop and buy a paper ticket.

How to check results and claim a prize

To check a ticket, compare your six red numbers and one blue number against the drawn numbers. The red order does not matter; only the set of matches does.

Claiming works like this:

• Sixth through third prizes are paid on the spot at any lottery shop when you hand over the ticket.
• First and second prizes are handled through the provincial welfare lottery center; the shop will direct you there, and you will need the ticket and identification.
• Timing matters. Prizes are valid only for the winning draw period, so a ticket left in a drawer for weeks is worthless⁴.

Keep the ticket flat and legible. It is a bearer instrument: whoever holds it and can present it claims the prize, so treat a potentially winning ticket like cash.

Playing as a visitor in China

Visitors and foreign residents can play Double Color Ball the same way as anyone else. Tickets are sold over the counter to whoever buys them, with no citizenship or residency check; the rules state only that purchase is voluntary and buyers accept the game rules². If you can point at a playslip or write down six numbers and one blue number, you can play.

A few practical points for a first visit:

• Bring cash. Shops deal in small amounts, and a CNY 2 single bet is the cheapest way in. Card and foreign-app payments are generally not set up for lottery counters; see gambling payments in China for the wider picture.
• Go before 21:00 on a draw night if you want that night's draw. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday are the days to remember.
• Keep the ticket. It is your only proof of play, and prizes are only valid for the current draw period.
• Watch out for unofficial channels. Online sales of Chinese lottery tickets are prohibited, so do not buy from a website or an app, however official it looks⁹. Foreign lotteries are likewise banned from being sold inside China, so anything offering overseas draws to you locally is not legitimate either.

The shop experience is part of the fun. On draw nights the regulars gather, the screen goes live at 21:15, and the room checks tickets together as the balls drop. Even with a single CNY 2 line, you are playing for a shot at CNY 10 million, which is as big as regular prizes get in gambling in China.