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History of the Lottery: From the First Lottery Tickets to the Present

History of the Lottery: From the First Lottery Tickets to the Present

Gambling is one of the most popular ways to try your luck. People find it so existing to be intrigued by winning money or just losing. Let us talk about the lottery – the oldest form of gambling, which is popular all around the globe in different cultures. So how had the lottery become this legendary? The answer is in this blog post below.

A lottery is a form of gambling that does not require special strategies or professional approaches. It is all about your luck and the numbers on your lottery ticket. Of course, like other forms of gambling, the lottery has been under some doubt by many governments. Some authorities ban lottery at any level, but some fully support it by providing even national games in the annual schedule. But let us move to the very beginning of the lottery industry to understand how it was born.

How was the lottery born?

The first form of the lottery was recorded in the Chinese Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC. Talking more specifically, keno slips, which were the first variations of the lottery ticket became a key factor for such great projects in China as the Great Wall.

Considering the lottery history in Europe, the first place where people played the lottery was the Roman Empire. If the government played this game in China to sponsor the project, in the Roman Empire it was a form of entertainment among the fancy elite, this lottery option was more likely an occasion to distribute gifts for representatives of the highest circles, because everyone received prizes.

Eventually, the lottery in the Roman Empire became more accessible to regular audiences. Roman Emperor Augustus created the first tradition of selling lottery tickets to people to try their luck as well. The money from selling was repaired to the City of Rome budget, and citizens got various prizes of different value.

Lottery in medieval history

Years after, in the 15th century, lottery tickets showed up in Europe one more time. The first country, where this game became popular is the Netherlands. The city’s authorities organized events to collect the fund for local needs like building and helping the needy.

Italy was another welcoming country for lottery entertainment. The first record of selling lottery tickets was on January 9, 1449. The Golden Ambrosian Republic set up the lottery event to fund the finances for the war against the Republic of Venice.

Lottery in England

Nowadays, Great Britain is one of those countries, where a lottery is a national game, almost like a tradition for generations. The UK National Lottery hits 28 years old on November 19. On this day in 1994, Noel Edmonds hosted the first-ever National Lottery show on BBC1. Back then, there were 7 winners who shared a jackpot of £5 million.

Officially, Queen Elizabeth I charted the lottery in the kingdom in 1566, it was drawn a little bit later in 1569. The main prize was £5 000. The occasion of this was to raise money for the needs of the country, such as the restoration of ports and architects.

The future of lottery worldwide

Obviously, the future of the lottery industry will embrace digital technologies and innovative approaches. Right directly with the technology development, a lottery will be growing around the world with even more people interested in the game.

If you want to see the most incredible lottery record of spending $1 million on lottery tickets watch the video at the link.

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