History of the Lottery

Posted on June 18th, 2008

The lottery began, in the form of Keno slips, all the way back during the Hans Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC. It is well known that the lottery has helped fund education and environmental programs in the US, but it also helped fund projects like the Great Wall of China. The lottery can even be traced all the way back to the Iliad in which Homer tells of lots being placed into Agamemnon’s helmet to decide who would fight Hector.

During the Roman Empire, there were lotteries played during dinner parties for amusement. At these parties, each guest received a ticket that could amount to prizes like fancy dinnerware. The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale, like lotteries played today, is the lottery organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. The funds of Caesar’s lottery were used to repair Rome. The earliest public lottery on record was held in Sluis, a Dutch town, in 1434.

The first lottery in colonial America was authorized by King James I in 1612 in Virginia. The Virginia lottery gave the citizens of Jamestown the right to raise money to establish settlers. In fact, between 1744 and 1776 over two hundred lotteries were sanctioned in colonial America, that played a great role in financing private and public ventures including roads, libraries, churches, and colleges.

Lotteries even helped supplement the costs of supporting the local militias during the French and Indian Wars. Benjamin Franklin even organized a lottery in order to purchase cannons to defend Philadelphia.

Near the end of the nineteenth century lotteries were banned by a large majority of state constitutions. On July 29, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison sent a message to Congress demanding “severe and effective legislation” against lotteries. Congress immediately banned the U.S. mails from carrying lottery tickets. The Supreme Court upheld the law in 1892, and by 1900 completely banned all lotteries in the US.

In 1964, it would take many years of constitutional amendments by each various state before the lotteries were allowed to flourish again. On March 12, 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery Sweepstakes became the first state to sell lottery tickets in the modern era. Now, there are only 8 US states without official state lotteries including: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

Traditional lotteries are about to meet 21st century technology. In Europe the sale of online lottery tickets has been highly successful. Several states are investigating the possibility of online lottery ticket sales to boost lottery generated revenues. Most US lottery players say they would welcome the sale of online lottery tickets.