A look back at the journey of lotteries through history
Winning a lottery or a bet is a dream that people have had for centuries. Yes, centuries. The history of betting, gambling or purchasing lottery tickets dates back to the Han Dynasty in China around 200 BC! Back then, it was called ‘white pigeon’ and now, it is known as keno. You’d be surprised as to how prevalent the practice was during that time. In fact, it was so popular that theories have sprung up suggesting that the Great Wall of China was constructed with the money raised from ‘white pigeon’!
Some of the well-known lottery games of today include Powerball in the US; Oz Lottery in Australia, the Swedish lotto in Sweden and the Mega-Sena draw in Brazil. Though the way we organise the lottery today differs from how it was done in the past, the concept remains the same. Here is a look back at the journey of lotteries through time.
The lotteries of Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, lotteries were initially held only at the dinner parties of rich people where one could win various lavish prizes instead of money. But these lotteries were limited to the few rich. However, Roman emperor Augustus Caesar (63 BC to AD 14) took them to the masses. He came up with this idea with an ulterior motive. Rome was in desperate need of repairs at the time, but the citizens were already being heavily taxed and any further tax increase would only cause unrest. The new lottery game seemed like a way out to Caesar as he could gather money for repairs, in return for treasures from the most recent conquest. Eventually, Caesar used the lottery to increase both his earnings and his notoriety. About 200 years later, Roman Emperor Elagabalus, who reigned from 218-222 AD, organised a forced lottery in which the tickets were thrown with a catapult. In these games, wasps, dead animals and even death sentences were the prizes. Heinous, isn’t it?
Lotteries from the Middle Ages
The word ‘lot’ in lottery originated during the Middle Ages. In late 15th-century Genoa, a city in Italy, people started betting on which 5 council members would be selected to replace the old members in the Great Council of the Republic of Genoa. Because of the overwhelming public interest in this, the organisers decided to replace the councillors’ names with numbers. That is how the first number-based lottery system, also known as the lotto lottery, came to be! As a tribute to its Genoese origins, the Italian SuperEnalotto, a famous lottery game based in Italy still draws 6 numbers from a pool of 90 to determine the winning selection. In England, the government organised the first public lottery in 1659, and Queen Elizabeth picked out the winning balls. This system is still in practice in England. However, it is celebrities who pick the winning balls.
The rise of American Lotteries
America also jumped on the lottery bandwagon, thanks to its founding fathers, who established lotteries to fund their quest for freedom. The money obtained from the lottery was used for the welfare of the people. Ben Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, was the first person to start a lottery in America. Usually, lottery tickets would take over 7 months to sell in New York and England. However, Ben Franklin’s lottery only took 7 weeks to sell! The success was spectacular, and the proceeds from the tickets were used to purchase a cannon to protect Philadelphia from the British in 1747 during the American Revolution War. George Washington, another founding father of America, also attempted to run a lottery to raise funds for public projects. However, his efforts did not yield the same results as those of Ben Franklin. One reason for this could be the availability of several lotteries at the time. Nevertheless, his signed lottery tickets have now become collector’s items. Later, Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd US President, also attempted to run a lottery to pay off his debts, but his lottery scheme failed. The Virginia legislature, where Jefferson wanted to run his lottery scheme, denied approving the lottery.