A lottery is known as the first popular form of gambling, most frequently run by local states and governments. The creation of the lottery goes back to the ancient times when the first types of it appeared. We would like to present a brief outlook on the history of the lottery to see how it developed in the course of time.
Early period
The lottery game was originated in China, particularly during the period of III-II century BC. For the time of the reign of Han dynasty, the prototype of the lottery called Keno was invented. Most scholars believe that lotteries served as the method to finance different projects, e.g. the construction of the Great Wall of China.
In Europe, however, the first record of the lottery was in the Roman Empire. Initially, the lottery was played for amusement at the pompous parties of the Roman nobles, but then emperor Augustus defined a new role for it – fundraising for repairing the city of Rome. The winners of the lottery did not receive the monetary prize, but instead were granted special articles of different value.
From medieval up to modern lotteries
The 15th century marked the advent of the public lotteries. The first such lottery appeared in Sluis, a small town in the Netherlands. Following the suit, several towns in Flanders initiated their own lotteries, where participants could win money. The aim of the lottery was to finance the building of fortifications and to aid the poor people. As fewer taxes were actually imposed on these lotteries, they have rapidly grown in popularity.
You can clearly see that the lotteries helped to raise enough money for the needs of the society. However, the introduction of lotteries into England in the 16th century was slightly different. There still weren’t any good bingo sites for UK players, but unlike previous lotteries, every ticket holder won the prize and the overall value of the prizes equaled the amount of funds raised. Therefore, this sum of money played a role of a loan to the English government.
After colonization of America, lotteries have emerged to help in construction and improvement of social welfare in the colonies. Between the 1744-1774 more than 200 lotteries were officially recorded. Although they still remained popular after the Revolution, in the late 19th centuries lotteries caused a lot of scandals which had lead to the ban of lotteries in the majority of states. This because the bribery and corruption associated with lotteries reached the boiling point.
Modern Lotteries
The ban on lotteries in the United States was removed only after World War II. In 1960s lotteries returned as the way to get extra revenues for the governments of states. As the result, such famous lotteries like Powerball, WildCard 2, Hot Lotto appeared and still exist in our days. America is not the only home to lotteries. They are regularly held throughout the world.
The Internet has opened the doors for gambling. Therefore, the user can easily find various web lotteries and online casinos.