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Lottery Ticket Game Of Chance

Lottery

Lottery is a type of gambling where the winner is chosen based on a drawing. Quite a lot of governments outlaw gambling while the others organize a state or a national lottery. Most lotteries are regulated by very strict rules and regulations set up by the government. In the 20th century, quite a lot of games of chance were considered to be illegal in several countries like the sweepstakes and lottery. Until the end of World War II gambling had been considered to be illegal and it was only after that that the lotteries began to appear all over the world in order to raise revenue for the countries.

Types of lotteries

Lotteries are in several different formats. The prize on the lottery could be cash or even in the form of goods. The only risk to the organizer is if enough tickets are not sold for the lottery. The prizes for the lotteries are commonly a fixed percentage of the receipts through ticket sale. One of the most popular types of lotteries is the 50-50 draw where the lottery organizers offer 50% probability of winning of the revenue as a prize to the winner. Several lotteries in the recent years allow the players to select the number for their lottery tickets. This results in multiple winners for one ticket.

Lotteries offer a chance of winning to the purchaser along with a thrill and excitement from the possibility of being selected as a winner and becoming wealthy. There is an entertainment value attached to the lotteries which is why they have always been so popular with people.

History of lotteries

The first ever recorded signs of lotteries had been the keno slips from the Han Dynasty in China which dated back to 205 BC. It is believed that these lotteries helped the government fund for large projects like Great Wall of China. An old book from the 2nd century BC refers to a game which seems to describe drawing of lots.

In Europe the first known lotteries had been organized during the Roman Age as amusement for parties. Every guest would have a ticket and the prize could be fancy items. However, in these lotteries every ticket holder would win something or the other. The first ever record of lottery tickets being offered on sale had been organized by Augustus Caesar, the Roman Emperor. The funds had been used for repairing various monuments in Rome.

The first ever record found for a public lottery had been in the year 1434 in a Dutch town known as Sluis. The first time that the lotteries had offered cash as prize money had been in the period from 1443 to 1449. Several towns had then held public lotteries in order to raise money for the town fortifications and to help the poor. The records of towns like Bruges, Utrecht and Ghent indicated that the lotteries could be even older than that.

Ever since then the lotteries have been considered to be a very important source of revenue generation for the states in several countries.