Mark Six holds a number of special draws each year called ‘Snowball draws’. These draws usually take place around specific holidays and offer larger jackpots than those in a normal draw.

In each normal Mark Six draw a portion of the prize fund is set aside into a Snowball fund. The sum from each draw allocated to the fund is 9% of the total prize fund after the total amount won in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th division has been deducted.

When the Snowball draw is due to take place, all the money that is sitting in the special fund is added onto the 1st division prize to increase it to a significantly higher prize than would be won in a normal draw. If the jackpot is not won in the special Snowball draw then it will rollover to the next one and keep doing so until it is won.

Each Snowball draw has its own three letter code to distinguish it from the others that take place throughout the year:

Draw Code	Description
ANN	Mark Six Anniversary
CNY	Chinese New Year
DBF	Dragon Boat Festival
EAS	Easter
MAF	Mid-Autumn Festival
SBD	Snowball Draw
SMR	Summer
STE	Super Tuesday
STU	Super Thursday
XMS	Christmas

Entries for a Snowball draw can be bought up to a week in advance by ticking the specific box on your play slip. The relevant three letter code will be printed onto your ticket. Check out the How to Play page for more info on entering a Snowball draw.

History of the Snowball Draw

The very first Snowball draw took place on 1st February 1982. In 1993 we saw multiple Snowball draws take place during Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn festival in October. Following on from 1993, more special draws were added, such as the Christmas Snowball draw, and special draws to celebrate the 20th and 25th anniversaries of Mark Six.

In 1997 the Snowball draw held on 5th July set the record for the most 1st division prize winners in Mark Six history when 39 winning units shared the jackpot. The Snowball draw was to celebrate Hong Kong re-joining the mainland and each winner took home HK$705,770.

In 2006 new rules were implemented that stated 9% of the Prize fund, after deductions for the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th division prizes, would be placed into the Snowball fund. This fund is still used to make sure there is enough extra prize money to add on to make the Snowball draw 1st Division prize significantly bigger than that of a normal draw. It was also after this date that codes were used to describe each draw, with the first code being "DBF" for the Dragon Boat Festival Snowball draw held on 30th May 2006.

2008 saw more Snowball draws than any other year in Mark Six history when 12 took place. Despite there being enough for one each month, June and December held two special draws each whilst February and August missed out. Over HK$150,000,000 was won in the 1st Division between 12 different players that year despite several of the draws not having a 1st division winner on the night.

Nine Snowball draws were held in 2011, and since then there haven’t been more than six each year, with some years only holding five.