NetLotto

Winning The First National Lottery

In the middle 18^th century, a notable event occurred in France. Because of the potential for fixing the results in privately operated lotteries, resulting in cheats winning the lottery, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (1725 – 1798) persuaded Louis XV of France to found the first state-owned monopoly lottery, the Loterie Royale of the Military School, which became the forerunner of the Loterie Nationale. All other lotteries in France were outlawed. The lottery was a Keno style game, where players could select 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 numbers between 1 and 90. (Incidentally, Casanova owned an interest in the new lottery and became wealthy as a result, but sold his interest shortly afterwards and lost the proceeds through unwise investments; sounds just like some modern lottery winners, doesn’t it?)

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Winning the Lottery in 18th Century France

Origin of American Lotteries

In the 18^th century, lotteries were well under way in America, primarily to fund some venture or as a way out of debt. The first began in Massachusetts in 1744 because of military debts. The first national lottery was started by the Continental Congress in 1776 to raise funds for the American Revolution. Winning the lottery was a side issue. Many of the Founding Fathers played and sponsored lotteries:

o   Benjamin Franklin used lotteries to finance cannons for the Revolutionary War.

o   George Washington financed construction of the Mountain Road, which opened expansion West of Virginia, by operating a lottery.

o   Thomas Jefferson, who was $80,000 in debt at the end of his life, used a lottery to dispose of most of his property. Winning this lottery would have gained you a priceless historical artifact!

o   John Hancock operated a lottery to finance the rebuild of historic Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Winning the Mountain Road Lottery

“I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” – George Washington

“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” – Benjamin Franklin

In addition, public lotteries helped build several American universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth. Winning the lottery here was a major contribution to the future of American education.

Winning the Harvard College Lottery

By the early 1800s in the U.S., lotteries were very popular, but abuse by private citizens meant that the government was not getting the profit to which it believed that it was entitled, and attempts began to outlaw lotteries. In the 1820s, New York passed the first constitutional prohibition of lotteries. One of the most effective methods of selling lottery tickets had been through post offices, but in 1827, a law was passed banning postmasters from selling them and in 1868, Congress declared that it was unlawful to use the mail for lotteries. Winning the lottery just got a lot harder.

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