The four-digit number is only half of a 4D bet. The other half is the bet type, and it decides which prize positions you can win from and how much each win pays. The same number, on the same draw, can pay RM2,500 or RM60 or nothing depending on how it was bought.
Big
A Big bet covers all 23 prize positions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, the 10 Specials and the 10 Consolations. Per RM1 staked, the standard payouts are:
- 1st Prize — RM2,500
- 2nd Prize — RM1,000
- 3rd Prize — RM500
- Special — RM180
- Consolation — RM60
Big is the wider net. Most tickets that win anything at all are Big tickets winning a Special or a Consolation.
Small
A Small bet covers only the top three positions, and pays more for each:
- 1st Prize — RM3,500
- 2nd Prize — RM2,000
- 3rd Prize — RM1,000
A Special or Consolation hit pays nothing on a Small bet. You are concentrating the same stake into three outcomes instead of 23.
Neither is the “better” bet. Big wins more often and pays less; Small wins rarely and pays more. The expected value of the two is set by the operator, not by which one you feel luckier about.
Permutation bets: iBox and mBox
A permutation bet covers every rearrangement of your four digits at once. Buy 1234 as a permutation bet and you are covered whether the draw produces 1234, 4321, 2143 or any other ordering.
How many orderings there are depends on repeated digits:
- All four digits different (1234) — 24 permutations
- One pair (1223) — 12 permutations
- Two pairs (1122) — 6 permutations
- Three of a kind (1112) — 4 permutations
This is where the names come from: mBox4, mBox6, mBox12 and mBox24 correspond to those permutation counts.
The trade-off nobody explains at the counter
A permutation bet does not give you 24 chances for the price of one. The payout is divided by the number of permutations. Magnum’s own published mBox table makes this exact: mBox4 pays RM625 on 1st Prize, and 625 × 4 = RM2,500 — the standard Big payout. mBox24 divides that same standard payout 24 ways.
So a permutation bet converts one large, unlikely prize into a smaller, more likely one. It does not manufacture value. If your digits are the right ones but you have no view on their order, it is a reasonable way to bet. If you expect it to multiply your winnings, it will disappoint you.
iBox is the same idea under different operator branding, and the pricing details vary between operators. Confirm the exact table with the operator before relying on a number: we publish only figures verified against an operator’s own page, which is why our prize structure pages carry the standard tiers and cite their sources.
Other bet types you will see
Operators also sell 3D, jackpot and system variants alongside classic 4D, and East Malaysian and Cambodian-licensed operators run their own structures — see the East Malaysia operators guide. Those use different tables entirely, so do not carry a 4D payout assumption across to them.
Reading your ticket
The bet type is printed on the ticket. When you check a result, check it against the bet type you actually bought:
- Big ticket — compare against all 23 numbers on the result page
- Small ticket — compare against the top three only
- Permutation ticket — compare the digits, in any order
Unfamiliar shorthand on a slip or in a shop is usually local 4D slang, and most of it is collected in our 4D dictionary.