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Thread: Historic (Gambling) Trivia

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    Historic (Gambling) Trivia

    Elizabeth I held England's first recorded state lottery on this date in 1569. The queen needed to raise funds to rebuild some harbors and make England more competitive in global trade, so she instituted the lottery for "reparation of the havens and strengths of the Realme and towards such other public good works." Her lottery was limited to 40,000 entries of 10 shillings each - too steep a price for most commoners. People lined up at the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral in London to buy their tickets. The prize was 5,000 pounds, part paid in cash and the rest paid in "tapestries, plate, and good linen cloth". To sweeten the pot even further, the queen offered all entrants a "get out of jail free card" for all crimes besides murder, treason, piracy, and other felonies. The total jackpot was equal to the number of tickets sold, but the prize wasn't paid out for three years, so the crown enjoyed an interest-free loan.
    The winner's name has been lost to us, but governments learned a valuable lesson: the lottery - sometimes known as a "voluntary tax" - is a great way to bring in some extra revenue to fill state coffers. Many British colonies - including Jamestown, Virginia - were founded and settled with the help of lottery funds. The national lottery has fallen in and out of favor in Britain since 1569, and was out of favor for most of Queen Victoria's reign, but Prime Minister John Major reinstated it in 1994 and it's still going strong, and at a price more affordable to working-class Britons.
    As Henry Fielding wrote in his play The Lottery (1732): "A lottery is a taxation upon all the fools in creation; and heaven be praised, it is easily raised, for credulity's always in fashion."

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    And now you know some more of the story...................

    http://historyoflottery.com/american_lotteries.html

    After the first English lottery approved by King James I in 1612 that granted the Virginia Company of London the right to raise money and therefore found the original settlement, lotteries in the colonies continued to be popular. In fact lotteries played a significant role in the financing of building and improving the colonies. Records show that over 200 lotteries were permitted between 1744 and the American Revolution, these played a vital role in the funding of roads, libraries, churches, colleges, bridges, and other public works. Princeton, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania began by being financed by lotteries. Lotteries also played a part in supporting the war efforts during the French and Indian Wars and the American Revolution. Rare lottery tickets with George Washington's signature can still be found and are worth about $15,000 today.

    Alexander Hamilton wrote that " Everybody...will be willing to hazard a trifling sum for the chance of considerable gain...and would prefer a small chance of winning a great deal to a great chance of winning little." while the Continental Congress employed lotteries to aid in the war effort. The lotteries were especially useful in raising funds as taxation was a sensitive issue among the colonists, unfortunately this practice also led to the belief that lotteries were/ are a form of hidden tax.


    Although lotteries continued to be popular after the Revolution, by the late 19th century they became known for mismanagement and scandals and started to be banned in many states. The Louisiana State Lottery (1868-1892) became the most notorious state lottery and was known as the "Golden Octopus" as it reached into every American home. The Louisiana lottery especially was a breeding ground of corruption having bribed the legislators into a fraudulent deal, during a time when other states were viewing lotteries and gambling with suspicion. In July of 1890 President Harrison sent a message to Congress insisting that "severe and effective legislation" be enacted against lotteries. Congress agreed and banned US mails from carrying lottery tickets almost immediately and in 1892 upheld a law to put a complete halt to all lotteries in the US by 1900.
    Luck is nothing more than probability taken personally!

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