Lottery

A record dated 9 May 1445 at L'Ecluse refers to raising funds to build walls and town fortifications, with a lottery of 4,304 tickets and total prize money of 1737 florins[2] (worth about US$170,000 in 2014).

[3] In the 17th century it was quite usual in the Netherlands to organize lotteries to collect money for the poor or in order to raise funds for a wide range of public usages.

[4] Although the English probably first experimented with raffles and similar games of chance, the first recorded official lottery was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the year 1566, and was drawn in 1569.

[5] This lottery was designed to raise money for the "reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes", including the rebuilding of ports and new ships for the royal fleet.

Prizes were in the form of both "ready money" and valuable commodities such as silver plate, tapestries, and fine linen cloth.

Additionally, each participant was granted immunity from one arrest, "so long as the crime wasn't piracy, murder, felonies, or treason."

In later years, the government sold the lottery ticket rights to brokers, who in turn hired agents and runners to sell them.

Many private lotteries were held, including raising money for the Virginia Company of London to support its settlement in America at Jamestown.

It has been recorded that more than 200 lotteries were sanctioned between 1744 and 1776, and played a major role in financing roads, libraries, churches, colleges, canals, bridges, etc.

In Austria the first lottery was drawn in 1751, during the reign of Empress Maria Theresia, and was named Lotto di Genova since it was based on 90 numbers.

This includes the years during the Spanish Civil War when the lottery draw was held in Valencia after the Republicans were forced to relocate their capital from Madrid.

[8] In 1916, the Australian government started their own lottery, named the 'Golden Casket Art Union', with the intention of raising money for charities and projects.

The state government of Tamil Nadu decided to ban GooglePay since it allows payments to online lotteries and awards its users in India with Scratchcards.

On 1 August 1985, the government in a non-tender privatisation, sold the company to businessman Vincent Tan who merged it into his Berjaya Group.

A lottery was first held in Thailand (then known as Siam) in 1874 during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), as part of an international fair organised for his birthday.

[23] Shrines of local folklore and popular religion, such as Nang Ta-Khian, are often propitiated in order to be lucky in the Thai lottery draw.

[32] The format was introduced by Dutch company Novamedia BV:[33] players pay at minimum £10 monthly to play, and winning postcodes are announced daily.

[34] In accordance with restrictions under the Gambling Act 2005, the maximum amount which can be won by a single ticket is £500,000, or 10% of the total draw proceeds.

[35][failed verification] A minimum of 33%[36] of the ticket price from players' subscriptions supports various trusts, which in turn fund local and international charities and community projects.

[37] People's Postcode Lottery has a number of celebrity ambassadors, including David Attenborough, Judi Dench, Shobna Gulati, Tim Healy, Stephen Jardine, Ellen MacArthur, Aggie MacKenzie, Carey Mulligan, John Stapleton and Emma Thompson.

In Hanoi, the "agent" system of the betting game has developed along with traditional lottery stores and iced tea stalls, operating quite openly.

[55] Another form of scam involves the selling of "systems" which purport to improve a player's chances of selecting the winning numbers in a Lotto game.

[57] In 2003, Mohan Srivastava, a Canadian geological statistician, found non-random patterns in "Tic-Tac-Toe" tickets sold by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

The one-time payment (cash or lump sum) is a "smaller" amount than the advertised (annuity) jackpot, having regard to the time value of money, even before applying any income taxes to which the prize is subject.

While withholdings vary by jurisdiction and how winnings are invested, it is suggested that a winner who chooses lump sum expects to pocket ⁠1/3⁠ of the advertised jackpot at the end of the tax year.

In France, Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Finland, and the United Kingdom all prizes are immediately paid out as one lump sum, tax-free to the winner.

In the US, federal courts have consistently held that lump sum payments received from third parties in exchange for the rights to lottery annuities are not capital assets for tax purpose.

[59] This can be done to avoid paying income taxes, hide the winnings from being seized for child support, or for money laundering of profits from illegal activity; some jurisdictions investigate overly frequent "winners" and may freeze payments to prevent these abuses.

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that people in Sweden who won large sums of money from the lottery tended to retain their wealth over a period of 10 years, often kept their jobs but took more vacation, and maintained or increased their happiness and mental health.

Financial consultant Don McNay provides anecdotes supporting this claim in his book, Life Lessons from the Lottery.