What is a lottery?
A: A lottery is a form of
gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at
random for a prize.
Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse
it to the extent of what?
A: Organizing a national or state lottery.
It is common to find some degree of regulation of
lottery by whom?
A: Governments.
The most common regulation is what?
A: Prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell
lottery tickets.
Lotteries were common in the United States and some
other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th
century, most forms of gambling were what?
A: Illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries.
This included what?
A: Lotteries and sweepstakes.
This remained so until when?
A: Well after World War II.
In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear
throughout the world as a means for what?
A: As a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.
More commonly, the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts.
Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the
numbers on the lottery ticket, resulting in the possibility of what?
A: Multiple winners.
The first recorded signs of a lottery are keno slips
from what?
A: The Chinese Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC.
These lotteries are believed to have helped to finance
major government projects like what?
A: The Great Wall of China.
From the Chinese Book of Songs (2nd millennium BC.)
comes a reference to a game of chance as "the drawing of wood", which in
context appears to describe what?
A: The drawing of lots.
The first known European lotteries were held during
what?
A: The Roman Empire, mainly as an amusement at dinner parties.
Each guest would receive a ticket, and prizes would
often consist of what?
A: Fancy items such as dinnerware.
Every ticket holder would be assured of what?
A: Winning something.
This type of lottery, however, was no more than what?
A: The distribution of gifts by wealthy noblemen during the Saturnalian
revelries.
The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for
sale is the lottery organized by whom?
A: Roman Emperor Augustus.
The funds were for what?
A: Repairs in the City of Rome, and the winners were given prizes in the
form of articles of unequal value.
The first recorded lotteries to offer tickets for sale
with prizes in the form of money were held where?
A: In the Low Countries in the 15th century.
Various towns held public lotteries to raise money for
what?
A: Town fortifications, and to help the poor.
The town records of Ghent, Utrecht, and Bruges indicate
that lotteries may be what?
A: Even older.
A record dated 9 May 1445 at L'Ecluse refers to raising
funds to build walls and town fortifications, with a what?
A: A lottery of 4,304 tickets and total prize money of 1737 florins (worth
about US$170,000 in 2014).
In the 17th century it was quite usual in the
Netherlands to organize lotteries to collect money for what?
A: The poor or in order to raise funds for a wide range of public usages.
The lotteries proved very popular and were hailed as
what?
A: A painless form of taxation.
What is the oldest running lottery?
A: The Dutch state-owned Staatsloterij (1726).
The English word lottery is derived from what?
A: The Dutch noun "lot" meaning "fate".
When was the first recorded Italian lottery held?
A: On 9 January 1449 in Milan.
Why was it organized by the Golden Ambrosian Republic?
A: To finance the war against the Republic of Venice.
However, it was in Genoa that Lotto became what?
A: Very popular.