A History of Lotteries from Ancient to Modern Times

Nowadays, lotteries are big business. And with prize money in the likes of the EuroMillions Superdraw regularly exceeding 100,000,000 Euros, it’s not hard to see why.

The basic concept of playing lotteries is easy to grasp – buy a ticket, choose your numbers and hope you win. And since the money raised by state-run ones usually goes to improving health, education and other good causes, they have the added advantage of being the one form of gambling that allows you to feel virtuous. But their history and influence on the course civilization has taken might surprise you.

Lotteries in the Ancient World

Although the word “lottery” is believed to have originated in Holland in the 15^th century, the history of this simple gambling game stretches back much further in time.

Historians have found evidence of lottery-type games going all the way back to 200 BC and the Ancient Chinese Western Han Dynasty when the citizens of China could play the ‘white pigeon game’.

This was basically an early form of keno and got its name from the carrier pigeons that were used to convey the results throughout the Han Empire. Part of the proceeds from this first incarnation of the lottery was used to fund public works, including the Great Wall of China.

Ancient Romans although indulged in various forms of lottery, although not with such altruistic aims. Well-known for their sumptuous banquets and decadent orgies, the Ancient Roman elite also liked to impress their guests by organizing a post-dinner lottery.

On these occasions, lavish prizes were showered on the winning guest. Although, given what we know of the state of Roman politics at the time, one suspects that the lotteries might have been rigged to favour the most important and influential of the participants.

Later, Augustus Ceasar, the first Roman Emperor, created a lottery that was open to all citizens of Rome. The prizes consisted of the spoils of war that the all-conquering Roman army had looted during its campaigns. In keeping with the Ancient Chinese practice, a portion of the proceeds were used for the maintenance of the roads and buildings of the Empire’s capital city.

Lotteries in the Middle Ages

Thanks to the Roman expansionist ambitions, the concept of lotteries was introduced to the tribes and countries of Europe. And they continued to be popular long after the collapse of the afore-mentioned empire.

But it isn’t until the 15^th century that lotteries became firmly established as a way of raising funds for the doing of good deeds, municipal works and other State enterprises.

In order to mark the 25^th anniversary of his death, the widow of the famous Flemish artist Jan van Eyck organized a lottery. Tickets could be purchased by all, and the draw was held on the 27th of February 1466, with cash prizes for the lucky winners. Proceeds went to helping the urban poor.

After that, their popularity quickly spread on the territory of what is now the Netherlands and Belgium and lotteries were used to fund the building of chapels, almshouses, canals, and port facilities.

The city-states of medieval Italy were the next to embrace this method of fund-raising with Milan using lottery funds to finance its war against Venice.

Genoa used a random draw to select its 5 council members from a short-list of 90 candidates. When people started to bet on the outcome, the organisers replaced the prospective councillor’s names with numbers, and the first number-based lottery was born.

Spain, France and Portugal quickly followed suit and organized state lotteries in the early 1500s, some of which are still going strong to this day.

England didn’t get in on the act until the second half of the 16^th century when Queen Elizabeth 1^st picked the winning balls for the first state lottery in 1596.

However, it seemed the English hadn’t quite worked out the concept of this form of fundraising as the value of the prize pool matched the total money spent on the tickets.

But it did benefit the State somewhat by easing the pressure on the judicial system as purchase of a ticket came with an automatic pardon for any non-violent crimes the buyer may have committed.

Early American Lotteries

The first colonists of the New World brought the concept of lotteries with them. The settlement of New Amsterdam (now known as New York) organized a lottery as early as 1655 where participants had to guess how many bibles were sold in the city during a certain period.

Lotteries played an important part in the social and political life of the Colony. Through studying old newspaper advertisements historian Neal Millikan found at least 392 lotteries were organised in the original 13 colonies. And they eventually helped fund the American War of Independence against their British overlords.

Eventually, though, they fell out of favour due to corrupt practices, most notably from the Louisiana State Lottery Company and were banned in all but two states, Delaware and Louisiana, by 1900.

It wasn’t until the mid-1900s that they regained public trust, although by the time scratchcards were introduced in the 1970s they had again become an important form of both entertainment and financing.

Oldest Lotteries in the World

The Dutch National Lottery has been active since 1726 and is still going strong. But it is the world’s second-oldest lottery that attracts the most attention. Spain’s ‘El Gordo’ (‘the fat one’), generally considered to be the biggest lottery in the world, has been held every year since 1812. Held at Christmas time, it is a bigger yuletide tradition than Santa Claus. Approximately 75% of the population purchase a ticket or share in a ticket hoping to win a piece of the multi-million Euro jackpot.

The Irish Sweepstakes

For decades the Irish Sweepstakes was one of the best-known lotteries around the world. Started shortly after Ireland finally won its independence from Britain, it was intended to raise much-needed funds for local hospitals.

As the population of the Emerald Isle was, and still is, quite small, most of the tickets were sold in England and America to Irish emigrants and their descendants.

The rags-to-riches stories of the winners quickly popularized it among the wider population of Depression-hit America and the sweepstakes soon became a proverbial cash cow.

The only problem was that Irish hospitals remained chronically underfunded while the organisers and their associates became unexplainably wealthy.

Eventually, in 1987, the organization was cleaned up and the sweepstakes rebranded as the Irish National Lottery, or Irish Lotto for short, and is still popular around the world today.

Conclusion

Winning the lottery can be a life-changing experience for players. But the very fact of their existence has had an unquantifiable impact on human history and even shaped the appearance of our modern world (imagine China without the Great Wall). So next time you feel like trying your luck either in a multi-million mega-draw, or just a quick game of keno or a few scratchcards at your favourite online casino, be proud that you are participating in a tradition that goes back thousands of years. And Good Luck!