When Did the Mark Six Lottery Begin?

Mark Six: run by the Jockey Club since 1975

The short version of the origin story is that the Mark Six is not a private business. The Hong Kong Jockey Club began managing the lottery on behalf of the government in 1975, and it has done so continuously since¹. That arrangement is the reason the game looks the way it does today: a single operator, a fixed share of the money going to a public fund, and no competing lotteries.

The Club itself describes its role in two parts. It is the sole operator authorized by the government to provide horse racing and football betting, and separately it administers the Mark Six lottery on behalf of the government¹. In Chinese-language material the Club puts it the same way: it is the only body authorized to run horse racing and football betting in Hong Kong, and it manages the Mark Six on the government's behalf⁵.

That dual role matters if you are trying to understand why there is only one lottery to play. The Club's betting services are limited to horse racing, the Mark Six and football, in line with its licensing conditions¹. The licenses for race betting, football betting and the Mark Six are issued by the government with conditions attached⁶.

If you want the wider picture of how racing, lotteries and betting grew up alongside each other in the region, the gambling culture and history in Asia section covers it, and the Happy Valley Racecourse history page explains how the Club's first track came about.

How the draw works today

The Mark Six is a 6-out-of-49 game¹. In each draw, six numbers are selected automatically, and those six are the drawn numbers⁷. A seventh number, the special number, is drawn as well, and it is the one that decides the lower-tier prizes².

The number pool runs from 1 to 49 inclusive, or whatever set of numbers the operator decides and announces². In practice that means you pick six different numbers from 1 to 49, and the draw produces six winning numbers plus the special number.

Draws have not always run on the same days. For the 2004/05 season, the published draw dates ran from September to June 30 and fell on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with certain dates marked as Golden Mark Six draws⁸. That is a useful reminder that the schedule is set by the operator and has changed over the years, so if you are planning around a draw, check the current published dates rather than assuming a fixed weekly pattern.

The machinery has changed too. A fifth-generation Mark Six drawing machine carried out draw No. 26/047 on the evening of May 5, 2026, replacing the fourth-generation machine that had served for 16 years.

Buying a ticket

Tickets are sold at Off-Course Betting Branches, at the racecourses, and through the Electronic Shroff Card³. If you would rather not go to a branch, the Club's Interactive Services and the 1886 Telebet automated services also take entries³.

The Club's own digital guide walks you through the process on a device: you can generate a Quick Pick, and you can check the drawn numbers of the past 20 draws from the same screen⁹. That is handy if you want to see how a set of numbers has performed before you commit, though past draws tell you nothing about future ones.

Multiple Draw Entry

One feature worth knowing about is the Multiple Draw Entry. It lets you enter the same set of numbers for consecutive draws instead of filling in a fresh ticket each time³.

The unit sizes are 5-draw, 10-draw, 20-draw and 30-draw if you buy at an Off-Course Betting Branch, at the racecourse or with an Electronic Shroff Card³. Through Interactive Services and the 1886 Telebet automated services, you can choose between 5 and 30 consecutive draws³.

So if you have a set of numbers you like and you are in Hong Kong for a few weeks, a 10-draw or 20-draw entry saves you the trip back to a branch. It also means you need to keep the ticket safe for the whole period, because it is your only record of the entry.

Filling in a physical ticket

If you buy over the counter, the ticket itself has rules. Physical tickets:

• must be marked with a vertical line in blue ballpoint pen
• must not be folded
• cannot be altered once marked²

That is a small thing that trips people up. A folded ticket or one marked in the wrong pen can cause problems at the counter, and alterations are not allowed at all. If you make a mistake, ask for a fresh ticket rather than trying to fix the old one.

Where the Mark Six fits in Hong Kong's gambling law

Hong Kong's gambling policy confines gambling to a small number of regulated channels. Those channels are horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six, all run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, plus activities approved by a public officer appointed by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, such as mahjong parlors¹⁰.

The English-language version of the same policy statement puts it plainly: authorized gambling outlets include authorized horse racing, authorized football betting and the Mark Six Lottery as organized by the Club, along with gaming activities authorized under the Gambling Ordinance, for example mahjong parlors⁴. A legislative brief from June 2025 repeats the same list¹¹.

The practical effect is that the Mark Six is not one option among many. It is one of only three betting products the Club is licensed to offer, and the Club is the only operator licensed to offer them¹.

What is not allowed

Playing on offshore casino websites is illegal in Hong Kong, and casino-style gambling in general is not legal, including land-based casinos, online casino games and live dealer casinos¹². If a site is not the Jockey Club's own service, it is not licensed here.

Are casinos legal in Hong Kong?

No. There are no legal casinos in Hong Kong. The legal gambling you hear about is tied to the three familiar options: horse racing betting, football betting and the Mark Six, all through the Jockey Club¹². Macau is a separate jurisdiction with its own rules, and if you are heading there, the Macau guide covers what is legal across the border.

Legal games: the Jockey Club monopoly

The Club's position is not just practical, it is written into how the market is set up. It is the sole operator authorized by the government to provide horse racing and football betting services, and it administers the Mark Six on the government's behalf¹. In Chinese, the Club states that it is the only institution in Hong Kong authorized to run horse racing and football betting, and that it manages the Mark Six on behalf of the government⁵.

Its operations run under the Gambling Ordinance and its license conditions, overseen by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, with policy advice from the Gaming and Lotteries Commission⁵. The Club's own responsible gambling material says its horse racing, football betting and Mark Six operations abide by strict regulatory requirements¹.

For a player, the monopoly has one practical consequence: there is no legitimate competitor to compare prices with. Every legal Mark Six ticket in Hong Kong comes from the same operator, whether you buy it at a branch, at the racecourse, online or by phone³.

The Club's betting menu, as listed in its own beginner material, is Racing, Football and Mark Six, with Flexi Bet as an option¹³. That is the whole list.

Age limit: 18 to buy a ticket

You must be 18 or over to take part. Under the lottery rules, anyone under 18 may not place an entry or claim a prize, and may not enter any lottery sale outlet unless authorized². The same restriction applies to anyone in school uniform².

This applies to everyone: residents, foreign residents and visitors alike. There is no separate rule for tourists, and no residency requirement to buy a ticket.

What happens if someone under 18 buys a ticket

If a participant is proven to have been under 18 when they placed the entry, the entry can be declared void, and any prize or refund that would have been paid is forfeited². In other words, the risk is not a fine at the counter. It is losing the ticket and any winnings attached to it.

For comparison, age limits for lotteries vary across the region. In Macau, anyone under 18 may not place entries or claim prizes in the Mark Six lottery, and may not enter a lottery sale outlet unless authorized². In Japan, sports lottery tickets cannot be bought by or transferred to anyone under 19, and prizes cannot be paid to them¹⁴.

Taxes and problem gambling support

Hong Kong does not tax Mark Six winnings at the player's end. The money is divided before prizes are paid:

That structure is worth understanding because it explains why the prize pool is what it is. Roughly half of what is staked comes back as prizes, a fixed slice goes to a public fund, and a smaller slice pays the operator. Nothing further is deducted from your prize when you collect it.

The Lotteries Fund is the public side of the arrangement. It is the reason the Mark Six exists in its current form: a single operator, a defined share to a public fund, and no competing lotteries¹⁵.

If gambling stops being fun

The Club runs a Problem Gambling Counselling and Treatment Centre, and its helpline number is 6829 8764¹⁶. The Club's responsible gambling pages set out the support available and the counseling and treatment services it funds¹.

If you are playing regularly and it has stopped feeling like entertainment, that number is the practical first step. The Club's own material frames responsible gambling as part of how its operations are run, not as an afterthought¹.