People line up outside a betting center in Tai Po on Friday. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Mark Six finally has a result ?three winners to share record lottery prize at HK$44.5m each

The Mark Six finally had a result on Friday night, as three winning tickets were drawn in the lottery's record jackpot of about HK$100 million.

Each of the winners will receive HK$44,509,550 after taxes.

Total turnover for the draw reached HK$343 million, breaking previous record of HK$230 million back in 1995.

The lottery draw will bring HK$85 million betting duty into the city's coffer, along with HK$51 million for the charity trust, a spokesman for the lottery runner, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said.

The lottery frenzy has taken hold of the city over the past several days, with thousands dreaming of what they may do if they became Friday night lucky winner.

People queued at betting centers for days, making sure they had their HK$10 tickets for the draw.

A 29-year-old accountant surnamed Pang got her ticket. She's probably more aware than most about how slim her chances are of winning, but in her view, "there is a possibility to become a millionaire with the cost of merely HK$10. Why not?"

Kwok, who is retired, said he had never thought about what he would do if he won all that money - he bought a lottery ticket simply because his friend did.

"People only want to have a bit of fun and hope from their stressful life. It's an opportunity to share the joy, even if they don't win in the end," he said.

A 26-year-old office worker said she buys Mark Six once in a while.

"If I win, I will donate one fifth of the prize to the charity and for the remainder, I will give some to my parents and make investments," she said, adding she would take a trip around the world as well.

The excitement really started brewing after Tuesday's draw for the HK$75 million jackpot resulted in no winning ticket being drawn.

That sent the first prize surging to HK$100 million, which will make it the biggest payout ever in the lottery's history.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club said there are 10 betting centers in the city that are considered "lucky".

One betting branch in Central had 36 first prize winners between 1994 and March of 2011.

To attest to its status, more than 100 people queued up outside the branch before the 11 am opening on Friday.

Lottery fever also spread to the mainland as many people crossed the border to pick up their tickets.

"I saw many people discussing the HK$100 million prize online on the mainland, so I came to try my luck," said a Shenzhen resident.

One illegal syndicate on the mainland has been going around claiming it invented a forecast technology for the lottery.

Trouble is - the promoters want 900 yuan before they are willing to share this dubious secret knowledge.

The Jockey Club responded: "No administrative fee is ever requested of the lottery winners. No 'tips' are provided, and the highly secure system for drawing the numbers makes it technically impossible for results to be forecast accurately in advance."

After paying operation costs, dividends and betting duty, the Hong Kong Jockey Club will put the rest of the proceeds into its charity trust.

In 2009-2010 financial year, the trust donated HK$1.52 billion to some 107 charities and community projects.

The lottery frenzy has drawn its share of naysayers who see even buying lottery tickets as a dangerous entree to gambling and possible addiction.

"Some people just want to get rich as soon as possible and sometimes the Mark Six and other gambling activities give them false hope," warned Reverand Wu Chi-wai, convener of the Anti-Gambling Coalition.

"I think over emphasis on Mark Six will encourage people who don't gamble to think it's quite easy to get lucky and win money from the lottery. In the future they may become problem gamblers," Wu added.

John Tse Wing-ling, associate professor from the Department of Applied Social Studies at the City University of Hong Kong, said the massive prize is not only giving people false hope, but triggering youngsters to take up the destructive habit.

"If the means and propaganda to gambling are increased, then both normal gambling and pathological gambling increases," Tse said.

Tse commented that responsible betting organizations should not encourage gambling by emphasizing the huge amount of payout.

At the same time, the media are playing an important role not to fan the fire, Tse said.

One way or another, people ought to know the probability of winning is 1:14,000,000.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/21/2011 page1)