Aside from being one way for a person to make money on a bet, a lottery is also the means by which a person may be able to help another, and thus benefit society as a whole. It is usual for lotteries to be arranged so that a portion of revenue raised is allocated to charitable projects of one kind or another.

The origin of today’s lotteries are very ancient, dating back to 100BC, during China’s Hun Dynasty, when the game of Keno was played, with monies going towards the defense of the State, helping with immensely costly projects such as the erecting of The Great Wall of China. The first lottery held in Europe was at the instigation of the Romans. What had begun as a private amusement for parties and gatherings amongst the nobility, was expanded and bettered during the reign of the Emperor Augustus Caesar, who cleverly used it almost as a stealth tax for the raising of large amounts of money to repair the infrastructure of the city.

It was not until many, many years afterwords that the first lotteries held in relatively modern times are recorded as having taken place, in 1434, in Sluis, a town in the Netherlands. It was around ten years after this that lotteries giving away cash begin to appear in Flanders, an area roughly comprising parts of modern day France, Holland and Belgium. These raised a slush fund to help the town paupers, as well as keep the town fortifications in good repair. It is reputed that the Dutch were early adopters of the idea of a lottery as a form of taxation. Belgium town council records show that in 1465, lotteries were used as a means to gain money to assist in the following important building projects:almshouses, chapels, port facilities and canals.

Northern Europe also became lottery mad, with the first of the English state lotteries initiated by Gloriana herself in the late 16th century. This sold an incredible four thousand tickets, with the prizes on offer including tapestries, plate and cash. The government sold the rights to sell the tickets to brokers, who, in turn, hired agents to sell the tickets to the public. In this fashion, the English lottery operated right up until 1826, at which point the lottery ceased.

Lottery fever gripped the world, with the invention of many different forms of the game, played by different peoples the world over. However, this popularity led inevitably to the corruption of the noble ideals of the first lotteries, with money comes the temptation to the criminal nature. Some private lotteries substituted low value prizes to those advertised, or even refused to hand over any prizes aat all. The time inevitably came when Canada and The United States prohibited the playing of lotteries altogether. Where they were still allowed, laws and regulations were implemented to ensure the fair playing and winning of lotteries.

Often, though not exclusively, today’s lotteries feel it expedient for good publicity to allot some portion of the monies raised to altruistic causes, or for the upkeep of public facilities. The modern age has made the playing of games of chance easier and more convenient than ever before, with online sites for gambling available day and night at the press of a button.

Your source for the lottery results: National Lottery Results Checker.