As well as being a means of winning money through gambling for an individual, a lottery may also be an easy way to help towards funding numerous and diverse altruistic projects,which might otherwise be under funded or even abandoned, thereby helping society as a whole and helping to underpin its infrastructure.
The origin of today’s lotteries are very ancient, dating back to 100BC, during China’s Hun Dynasty, when the game of Keno was played, with monies going towards the defense of the State, helping with immensely costly projects such as the erecting of The Great Wall of China. The first lottery held in Europe was at the instigation of the Romans. What had begun as a private amusement for parties and gatherings amongst the nobility, was expanded and bettered during the reign of the Emperor Augustus Caesar, who cleverly used it almost as a stealth tax for the raising of large amounts of money to repair the infrastructure of the city.
During the medieval period was the first public lottery held in modern times recorded as taking place in the town of Sluis,in the Netherlands, in 1434. The first time that money rather than prizes was regularly given away was in about 1444, in Flanders – an area now covered by France, Holland and Belgium. These lotteries are reputed to have been held for the benefit of both the poor and the towns fortifications. These lotteries were regarded, especially by the Dutch, as a form of taxation, albeit in a somewhat disguised form.It is recorded that in 1465, in Belgium, lotteries were held to raise money for the construction of almshouses, port facilities and canals.
In the West, there was great appetite for a lottery. Late in the 16th century, Elizabeth initiated the original English state lottery. That this was a great popular success can be seen in the fact that four thousand tickets were sold for the original lottery, with the prizes given away tapestries, plate and cash. After this, the government thought it expedient to sell the rights to brokers, who would then hire agents all over the country to sell on the tickets o the great unwashed. The lottery continued until 1826, when Parliament decided to discontinue it.
Different forms of the lottery were invented and took hold, with lotteries played almost universally worldwide in some fashion or other. Soon, however, the initial noble intentions of the first lotteries were submerged in a sea of greed and corruption. Many private lotteries did not give the prizes as advertised, but maintained the right to substitute inferior prizes; inn the worst cases, no prizes were ever handed over to the unfortunate winners. The United States and Canada eventually banned all lotteries, and prohibiting all such. In time, however, new laws and regulations were decreed to ensure the fair running of the new generation of lotteries and games of chance.
Often, though not exclusively, today’s lotteries feel it expedient for good publicity to allot some portion of the monies raised to altruistic causes, or for the upkeep of public facilities. The modern age has made the playing of games of chance easier and more convenient than ever before, with online sites for gambling available day and night at the press of a button.
Your source for the lottery results: National Lottery Results Checker.
