LOTTERY. 



years, a very considerable premium was 

 given for the money advanced, in addition 

 to a high rate of interest. 



According to the lottery plans which 

 prevailed from Sir Robert Walpole's ad- 

 ministration to that of the Duke of Graf- 

 ton, the tickets were issued at 101. each ; 

 and occasionally the subscription was open 

 to the public at large. The highest prize 

 was generally 10,000/, and the lowest 20/. 

 There were from four to six blanks to one 

 prize, and the blanks entitled the bearers 

 to five or six pounds stock in 3 or 4 pel- 

 cent, bank annuities, the value of the 

 blanks arid prizes being generally funded. 

 The office-keepers divided the tickets in- 

 to shares and chances ; the former en- 

 titling the holders to the proportion they 

 had purchased of blanks and prizes ; the 

 chances to prizes only; that is, they had 

 no return if the ticket was drawn a blank. 

 The tickets, according to the advantage 

 or disadvantage of the scheme, in respect 

 to the number of blanks to a prize, and 

 the number of high prizes, generally sold 

 at from 111. to 121. before the drawing. 

 When the ticket sold for 111. and the 

 blank was entitled to 61. in the 3 per cent, 

 annuities, as the blank might be sold for 

 51. 8s. ready money, when the 3 per cents. 

 were at 90, the adventurer only gambled 

 at the risk of 51. 12s. ; and at the 1 ugliest 

 calculation, when tickets were worth 131. 

 he never staked more than 71 12*. for a 

 ticket before the drawing. 



In 1759, the scheme of the lottery in- 

 cluded two prizes of 20,OOG/. each, which 

 had not been the case in any lottery since 

 the reign of Queen Anne. The scheme 

 for the year 1767 contained one prize of 

 20,000/. and this was for many years after 

 the usual amount of the highest prize. A- 

 bout this time a material alteration was 

 made in the plan of the lotteries ; the al 

 lowance to blanks was discontinued, * le 

 whole sum being divided into prizes the 

 number of which was of course cp*sicler- 

 ably increased, particularly as the propor- 

 tion of small prizes was much grater than 

 it has since been, and in several of the 

 follow ing years was less lh> n two blanks 

 to a prize.' All the lottc-'ies during the 

 time Lord North was chancellor of the 

 Exchequer were forrvedon this principle, 

 with some variations in the schemes, 

 which favoured tie holders of tickets and 

 the lottery-ofnre keepers, and greatly ex- 

 panded the spirit of gaming: such as pay- 

 ing the prizes in money instead of stock, 

 and making the first drawn ticket for se- 

 veral successive days a capital prize of 

 1000J. or more, which enhanced the price 

 of tickets, and encouraged persons who 



VOL. IV. 



had blanks drawn to buy in again. Some 

 judicious regulations were, however, a- 

 dopted, for the security of persons pur- 

 chasing shares of tickets, by confining the 

 shares into which tickets may be divided 

 into halves, quarters, eighths, and six- 

 teenths, and obliging' all lottery -office 

 keepers to deposit the tickets they divide 

 into shares in the bank, and to "have the 

 said shares examined and stamped. The 

 practice of insuring tickets and shares 

 was likewise restrained, by enacting that 

 "No person shall sell the chance or 

 chances of any ticket, or any share, for 

 any time less than the whole time ot 

 drawing from the day of sale r nor shall 

 receive any sum of money whatsoever, in 

 consideration for the repayment of any 

 sum, in case any ticket shall prove fortu- 

 nate, or in aiiy case of any chance ftr 

 event relating to the drawing, either as to 

 time, or its being fortunate ; nor shall 

 publish proposals for the same; under 

 the penalty of 500/. one half to be paid 

 to the person suing for the same, and the 

 other moiety to bis Majesty." 



During MY. Pitt's administration, the 

 lotteries were contracted for entirely dis- 

 tinct from the loans of tl*J respective 

 years ; and as it became yecessaiy to en- 

 deavour to augment e'ry source of re- 

 venue as much aspo^ble, various altera- 

 tions were made in the lottery schemes, 

 chiefly with the ' iew of raising the price 

 of tickets, and of keeping up the price 

 during the tiv e of drawing. The number 

 and amount of tSie highest prizes were in- 

 creased, ome of the schemes containing 1 



gr 



c /iirse of the year, the lottery was divided 

 into two or three smaller ones, drawn at 

 different times. The amount of the princi- 

 pal prizes was afterwards still further aug- 

 mented ; the lottery drawn in October, 

 1807, containing a prize of40,000/. and that 

 drawn in June 1803, six prizes of 20,000/. 

 Notwithstanding the temptations which 

 these schemes held out to the inconsider- 

 ate, the contractors found, either from 

 the greater frequency of lotteries, or the 

 increased number of tickets, that it be- 

 came impossible to get the tickets oft' 

 their hands, without resorting to a variety 

 of expedients for attracting the public at- 

 tention, which were carried so far as to 

 become a public nuisance and disgrace. 

 In 1808, a Committee of the House of 

 Commons was appointed, to inquire how 

 far the evils attending lotteries have been 

 remedied by the laws passed respecting 

 the same ; who in their report were of 

 Y 



