LOTTERY. 
LOTTERY, a game of hazard, in which 
small suras are adventured for the chance 
of obtaining a larger value, either in money 
or other articles. Lotteries are formed on 
various plans ; but in general they consist 
of a certain nnmber of tickets, which are 
drawn at the same time, with a correspond- 
ing number of blanks and prizes mixed to- 
gether, and by which the fate of the tickets 
is determined. This species of gaming has 
been sanctioned by the governments of 
France, Holland, Great Britain, and other 
countries, as a means of raising money for 
public purposes ; as from the contributions 
being voluntary, it is always easier to ob- 
tain money in this way than by new taxes : 
it is, however, liable to the serious objec- 
tion, that it tempts many persons to lose 
more than they can conveniently spare, 
particularly among the lower classes of 
society, who are led to neglect the gains of 
honest industry for the chance of acquiring 
sudden riches by a prize in the lottery. 
The proposals for the first public lottery 
in England were published in 1567 and 
1568, and it was drawn in 1569, at the west 
door of St. Paul’s cathedral. The tickets 
were sold at ten shillings each, and there 
W'cre no blanks. The prizes consisted 
chiefly of plate ; and the profits of it were 
intended for the repair of the havens of the 
kingdom, and other public works. In 1612 
King James granted permis.sion for a lottery, 
to be held af the west end of St. Paul’s, of 
which the highest prize was of the value of 
4000 crovyus, in plate : this was for the assis- 
tance of the Virginia company, who were li- 
censed to open lotteries in any part of Eng- 
land, by which means they raised 29,00()b At 
length these lotteries came to be considered 
a public evil ; they attracted the attention 
cfParliament,ryere represented by the Com- 
mons as a grievance, and in 1620 were sus- 
pended by an order of council. In 1630, 
however,Charles I. granted a special licence 
for a lottery, or lotteries, “ according to 
the course of other lotteries heretofore used 
or practised,” for defraying the expenses of 
a project for conveying water to London. 
Soon after the revolution. Lotteries were 
resorted to among other expedients for 
raising part of the extraordinary sums neces- 
sary for the public service, by which the 
disposition for this species of gambling was 
greatly encouraged and extended; and 
private lotteries, formed on the most delu- 
sive and fraudulent principles, became so 
general, not only in London, but in all the 
qther principal tovyns of England, that par- 
liament found it necessary, in 1 698, to pass 
an act for suppressing them ; by which a 
penalty of 6001. was laid on the proprietors 
of any such lotteries, and of 201. on every 
adventurer in them ; notwithstanding which, 
the disposition to fraud on the one hand, 
and for adventure on the other, continued 
to prevail, and small lotteries were carried 
on under the denomination of sales of gloves, 
fans, cards, plate, and other articles. This 
was attempted to be checked by a clause of 
an act passed in 1712, which only gave rise 
to a new mode of carrying on this kind of 
gaming. The adventure was now made to 
depend on the drawing of the government 
lottery ; and the selling and buying of 
chances and parts of chances of tickets in 
the state lotteries became a general prac- 
tice, till it was prohibited by' an act passed 
in 1718, by which all undertakings resem- 
bling lotteries, or being dependent on the 
state lottery, were strictly prohibited, un- 
der the penalty of 1001. over and above all 
penalties enjoined by former acts of parlia-' 
ment against private lotteries. 
During the reign of Queen Anne, the 
lotteries were generally for terminable an- 
nuities, to which both blanks and prizes were 
entitled, at different rates : thus, in 1710, the 
lottery consisted of 150,000 tickets, valued 
at 10/. each ; every ticket being entitled to 
an annuity for thirty-two years, the blanks at 
14s. per annum, and the prizes, to greater 
annuities, from 5/. to 1,000/. per annum. This 
was the first lottery for which the Bank of 
England received the subscriptions for go- 
vernment. In the following year, the whole 
of the money advanced for the tickets was 
to be repaid, both in blanks and prize.", in 
thirty two years, with interest at 6 per cent, 
and an additional sura of nearly half a mil- 
lion to be divided in order to form the prizes ; 
which additional capital was to be paid, 
with the like interest, within the same pe- 
riod as the original sum. In this manner, 
which was continued in several of the sub- 
sequent years, a very considerable premium 
was given for the money advanced, in addi- 
tion to a high rate of interest. 
According to the lottery plans which pre- 
vailed from Sir Robert Walpole’s adminis- 
tration to that of the Duke of Grafton, the 
tickets were issued at 10/. each ; and occa- 
sionally the subscription was open to the 
public at large. The highest prize was ge- 
nerally 10,000/. and the lowest 20/. 'There 
were trora four to six blanks to one prize, 
and the blanks entitled tiie bearers to five 
or six pounds stock in 3 or 4 per cent. Bank 
