Five Interesting Facts About Lotteries>

1 – Lotteries Are Ancient History

Lotteries aren’t the product of the last century, but can be traced right back to before the Great Wall of China was built. The ancient lotteries appear to have been similar to the modern casino game of keno, but they were used in much the same way as they are today – to raise money that could be spent on improving the societies of the time. In fact, some say that the Great Wall itself was built from ancient lottery proceeds!

2 – Lotteries Aren’t United In The States

There is no national lottery in the United States. This is because each state has its own gaming laws, and creating one lottery which complies with all of these various laws is an impossible task. Instead, most individual states have their own lotteries. Increasingly, states which agree on basic gambling laws are looking to organise multi-state lotteries which allow their residents to stand a chance of winning a prize much larger than individual state lotteries are able to offer.

3 – Lotteries Can’t Be Influenced

Despite the plethora of systems and strategies which claim to be able to help you win lottery prizes more often, lotteries themselves can’t be influenced. The outcome of all genuine lottery games depends entirely on the laws of chance. Whilst systems and strategies can offer limited guarantees (such as match 3 balls if you get a certain number of balls right from a larger selection) they can’t guarantee that you will win the top prize. The only way you could guarantee yourself a jackpot is to buy one ticket for every possible combination of numbers. For the UK lottery, that would mean spending around £14 million on tickets!

4 – Euromillions Is The Biggest

If lotteries were judged on the number of countries that participate in them, the Euromillions lottery would win hands down. Launched in February 2004, Euromillions pools the stakes of players in nine countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Because there are so many players involved, jackpots of €50 million are often up for grabs after just one or two rollovers!

5 – Lotteries Can Be Value For Money

Although the odds of you winning a lottery jackpot are always going to be huge (though thankfully it’s a lot easier to win lesser prizes!) the lottery can still be very good value for money. For example, if the odds of winning a lottery are 1 in 14 million and the estimated jackpot is around 2 million, that isn’t good value. But if there has been a rollover or two and the estimated jackpot is 20 million, it is good value because the top prize is better than the odds of you winning it!

Article Last Updated: 02/08/2007