LOTTERY. 
annuities, the value of the blanks and prizes 
being generally funded. The office-keepers 
divided the tickets into shares and chances ; 
the former entitling the holders to the pro- 
portion 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 ad- 
vantage 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 HI. and the blank 
was entitled to 61. in the 3 per cent, an- 
nuities, as the blank might be sold lor 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 highest calcula- 
tion, when tickets were worth 131. he never 
staked more than 71 . 12s. for a ticket before 
the drawing. 
In 17.59, the scheme of the lottery in- 
cluded two prizes of 20,0001. 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 20,0001. 
and this was for many years after the usual 
amount of the highest prize. About this 
time a material alteration was made in the 
plan of the lotteries'; the allowance to 
blahks was discontinued, the whole sum 
being divided into prizes, the number of 
which was of course considerably increased, 
jiarticularly as the proportion of small prizes 
was much greater than it has since been, 
and in several of the following years was 
less tlian two blanks to a prize. All the 
lotteries during the time Lord North was 
Chancellor of the Exehequer were formed 
on this principle, with some variations in 
the schemes, which favoured the holders of 
tickets and the lottery-office keepers, and 
greatly expanded the spirit of gaming: 
such as paying the prizes in money instead 
of stock, and making the first-drawn ticket 
for several successive days a capital prize 
of lOOOl, or more, which enhanced the 
price of tickets, and encouraged persons 
who had blanks drawn to buy in again. 
Some judicious regulations were, however, 
adopted for the security of persons pur- 
chasing shares of tickets, by confining ihe 
shares into which tickets may be divided 
to halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, 
and obliging all lottery-office keepers to 
deposit the tickets they divide into shares 
in the Bank, and to have the said shar es 
examined and stamped. The practice of in- 
suring tickets and shares was likewise re- 
strained 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 of drawing trom the day of sale ; nor 
shall receive any sinn of money whatso- 
ever, in consideration for the repayment of 
any sum, in case any ticket shall prove fortu- 
nate, or in any case of any chance or event re- 
lating to the drawing, eitlier as to time, or its 
being fortunate ; nor shall publish proposals 
for the same ; under the penalty of 5001. one 
half to be paid to the person suing for the 
same, and the other moiety to his Majesty.” 
During Mr. Pitt’s administration the lot- 
terie.s were contracted for ehtiiely distinct 
from the loans of the respective years ; and 
as it became nece.ssary to endeavour to 
augment every source of revenue as much 
as possible, various alterations were made 
in the lottery schemes, chiefly with the view 
of raising the price of tickets, and of keep- 
ing up the price during the time of draw- 
ing. The number and amount of the high- 
est prizes were increased, some ot the 
schemes containing four prizes of 20,000/. 
and others two of 30,000/. ; while for the 
purpose of disposing of a greater number of 
tickets in the course of the year, the lottery 
was divided into two or three smaller ones, 
drawn at different times. Ihe amount of 
the principal prizes was afterwards still 
further augmented; the lottery drawn in 
October, 1807, containing a prize of 40, 000/. 
and that drawn in June, 1808, six prizes of 
20 , 000 /. 
Notwithstanding the temptations which 
these schemes held out to the inconsiderate, 
the contractors found, either from the 
greater frequency of lotteries, or the in- 
creased number of tickets, that it became 
impossible to get the tickets off their hands, 
without resorting to a variety of expedients 
for attracting the public attention, which 
were carried so far as to become a public 
nuisance and disgrace. In 1808, a Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons was ap- 
pointed, to inquire how far the evils at- 
tending lotteries have been remedied by 
the laws passed respecting! the same; who 
in their report were of opinion. That (in 
case it shall be thought expedient to con- 
tinue state lotteries) the number thereof in 
each year .sliould be limited to two lotteries, 
of not more than 30,000 tickets each ; that 
the number of days allowed for drawing, in- 
stead of ten, should be brought back to 
eight for each lottery, the number fixed in 
1802; that the number of tickets to be 
drawn each day should be uncertain, and 
-yfr 
