Lottery is one of the famous gambling forms in the world and it has a long history that starts from ancient times. Today, we play lotteries by buying tickets online in SG Pools while enjoying the modern technologies of mobile phones and the internet.
Nowadays, players can now enjoy the lottery in the comforts of their home and wait for outcomes of their wagers, they can also play lotteries from the other side of the world. This gambling mode that we enjoy in its online version came from many versions throughout the history of mankind.
In an etymological sense, lottery as a word came from the Dutch word ‘lot’ which also means ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ in English language. The Dutch word itself was incorporated in the English lexicon to mean ‘a decision that is based on a predetermined fate’ evident in the idiom ‘drawing lots’.
Let’s discuss the history of the lottery and how it became the gambling world’s go-to game.
Origins in Ancient Times
The culture responsible for creating the game of lottery is Ancient China way back in 200 BC during the prevalence of the Western Han Dynasty. During this period, people refer to the game as the ‘white pigeon game’. This game is the closest thing we have to the ancient version of keno. The name is derived from the type of bird used to send the results of the game from village to village.
During the prevalence of the Ancient Roman Empire, the Romans played the lottery for a specific reason. The Emperor urged many citizens in Ancient Rome to participate in a lottery for an opportunity to win an item from the loot of the army’s latest conquest.
Medieval Lottery
Lottery was first played officially like the one we know of today like in singaporepools in the countries of Belgium and Netherlands, the latter is in which the origin of the name of the game came from. During the Italian Medieval Period, the game of lottery was used by the government to raise funds for the Milanese army to fight the Venetians.
In the council of the Republic of Genoa, the members draw lots using the names of the council members, however it was replaced by numbers and it was the first number based lottery game.
The lottery game Medieval England was relatively different because the sum of the prize pool is equal to the sum of all the lottery tickets combined. This version of the lottery is closer to what we have known today as ‘Secret Santa’.
Early Lotteries in America
Even though the Europeans introduced the lottery in America, it gained massive popularity. In the first settlers of New York, there is a game that was established with the participants guessing how many Bibles were sold in the place.
Most of the Americans today have a certain aversion to many types of gambling but the Founding Fathers of America used to play lotteries.
Irish Sweepstakes
The Irish Sweepstakes was one of the most contentious lottery games ever devised. The lottery is intended to raise revenue for the country’s crumbling hospitals. Despite the fact that the lottery winners served as a beacon of hope for potential winners, there is proven proof that the lottery is not what it appears to be.
Despite the vast sums of money generated by this charity, only a small fraction of the funds are allocated to the decaying hospitals, with the majority of the funds being robbed by the organizers.
Nowadays, the lottery game has spread all over the world, and each country has its own version of mega lotteries with a large prize pool that anybody may participate in like in SGPool.