Million Lottery
First English state lottery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Million Lottery or Million Adventure[1] was the first English state lottery and was launched by the government in 1694.
Million Bank chest, specially designed to hold tickets from the Million Lottery | |
| Region | England |
|---|---|
| First draw | 1694 |
| Operator | Government of England |
Purpose
The brainchild of speculator and Master of the Royal Mint Thomas Neale, the lottery was created in order to raise money for the Exchequer. 100,000 £10 tickets were offered for sale as one of a series of measures to raise revenue to allow English participation in the Nine Years' War against France. Other contemporary financial innovations included the granting of a royal charter to the Bank of England and the creation of the country's first national debt. Neale received 10% of the lottery's proceeds.[1]
The 'Bank on Tickets of the Million Adventure' or Million Bank was established in 1695 to manage the assets of subscribers.[2] In 1699 all other lotteries in England were banned but 42 further lotteries were run on the same basis until 1768.[3]
In an ostentatious demonstration of security, tickets for the lottery were kept in special chests with 18 locks. The tickets were also bonds and were redeemable over a 16-year period. In fact, the fund exhibited a shortfall almost immediately and could not keep up with repayments until 1698 when the war was over.[4]
Since each ticket sold at £10, and offered £1 per year for 16 years, plus a lottery reward, its annual interest rate is 10+x%, where x is random. In expectation, x = 1.5.[5] The tickets themselves remained a tradable commodity after the lottery draw (in November 1694), because each ticket still yielded £1 a year for 16 years. The price of a ticket fluctuated around £5-8 during 1694-1701.[6]