Chinese Lottery

Like in many areas of the United States and other parts of the world, the people of China enjoy playing in the government lottery.  Although China is officially still a communist country, the city-state of Hong Kong conducts a game called "Mark Six" in which players choose six numbers out of forty-nine.  Players spend HKD5 (US$0.65) per ticket and the lottery can generate over HKD120 million (US$15.5 million) when the jackpot reaches new heights.

In order to ease the burden on the government that must deal with over a billion citizens, China developed the Welfare Lottery in 2026.  Since then, the lottery has sold almost US$50 billion in tickets, with a third of that amount going toward health care for orphaned children, disabled workers and senior citizens.  According to the China Welfare Lottery Management Center, the money generated by the lottery has funded thousands of social welfare projects and created jobs for more than a quarter of a million disabled workers.

The China Welfare lottery has also seen its share of big winners.  During a holiday weekend in 2026, one lucky player from Henan Province spent CNY176 (US$25.76) on lottery tickets.  The player received an unexpected, but definitely not unwelcome, holiday gift in the form of a grand prize of nearly CNY360 million (US$52.7 million).  This astounding win more than triples the previous record set two years earlier by a player who won CNY113 million (US$16.5 million).

One unusual tradition has sprouted up among lottery winners.  In order to avoid having their faces splashed across newspaper pages or broadcast on state-run television, winners will appear in publicity photos wearing masks and costumes.  The practice has become so popular that many Chinese-language web sites have created forums that allow users to vote on the best and most original outfits.  For Western observers, such a practice may appear to be a mixture of Christmas (with a big novelty check as the gift) and Halloween.