LOTTERY( Fr, lotcric, from lot, lot, from ML. lottum, lot, from 311..G. lot, Gotli, hlauts, 1111G. It16:, hi:, Ger. Los, AS. blot, Eng. lot). In prin ciple, a game of chance wherein a large number of persons unite to create a fund out of which prizes, greatly exceeding in value any individual contribution, are assigned by lot to a small number of participants. The earliest lottery of which authoritative record exists tool: place at Bruges in 1440. In 1530 a lottery with money is recorded at Florence: and before the end of the sixteenth century it appears that lot tedes were very common throughout Italy. In 1569 a lottery was held in England. This lot tery was under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, and much official pressure was brought to bear to secure subscriptions. In 1612 a lottery was granted for the benefit of the Colony of Virginia: and in 1427 a license was given to raise by a lot tery money to build an aqueduct from Hoddesdon to London. Throughout the seventeenth century lotteries became increasingly frequent both in England and on the Continent of Europe, and in the eighteenth century all Europe succumbed to a veritable lottery mania. The States nearly everywhere established a public monopoly of the business, sometimes managing them on pithily account, sometimes farming them to private indi viduals. The practice was soon adopted in the American colonies. In 1720 we find notice of a lottery in Philadelphia, the prize being a new brick house, for which 350 tickets at 20 shillings each were to be drawn. Soon after lotteries be came common in Pennsylvania. and in 1729 the Legislature prohibited them. hut the law appears to have remained a dead letter. Many of these early lotteries were organized for public objects —the paving of streets, the construction of wharves. and the like. Lotteries for the erection of churches and educational buildings became common in most of the colonies after the middle of the century. In 1750 a lottery was organized to raise an edifice for Yale C'ollerte: Harvard raised funds in a similar way in 1772, and again in 1806. The difficulty in raising funds for pub
lie purposes led to the great extension of lotteries in the colonial period: and even after the Revo lution they were frequently employed.
In the early part of the nineteenth century. the mischievous influence of lotteries came to lie generally recognized. In 1S20 they were pro hibited in England: in 1.132. in France: in 1830. in Belgium: in 1841. in Sweden. In the Ana ri 'an States, opposition to lotteries rapidly developed. and in 1833 they were prohibited by New York and llassaelnisetts, and by most of the other States in the two following The last of the lottery was L,•fii•-inna. The Louisiana State Lottery. which revolved a eharter for twenty-five years in 1 sos. had a monopoly of the business within the mate, and was required to pay the sum of :..40,000 a year into the State treasury. In lson the company made great efforts to secure a re newal of its charter, offering finally an an nual payment of it ; rechartering the company was vetoed by the Governor. By an act of Congress of 1S90, the transmission through the mails of lottery adver tisements, or of registered letters addressed to lotteries or their agents. is prohibited. Lotteries of one kind or another. generally managed on ;state account, still exist in most of the countries of Europe, and yield a very considerable revenue. They are generally admitted to exercise a very baneful influence, encouraging recklessness and unthrift,'espec•ially in the lower classes of society.
For a discussion of the various principles upon which lotteries arc organized, consult Palgrave. "Lotteries," in Dictionary of Political Economy (London. 1896) : for a good discussion of the social and economic effects of the lottery, Lasson, Lotterie um! l'olkswirtschaft (Berlin, 1894). An excellent account of English lotteries will be found in Ashton, History of English Lotteries (London, 1893). The best short history of lot teries in America is Spofford's 'Lotteries in American History," in Annual Report of the American Historical Association. (Washington, 1S92).