So Moses Played The Lottery?

The lottery dates back a long, long way. However before we go into the history of the lottery I should explain where the name originates. The word lottery has its roots in the Dutch word "loterij" which means "fate".

Most people in the UK believe their lottery is fairly recent. However, the earliest English lottery dates back to 1567.Then in 1612 King James I used lottery money to help build the first British colony in America at Jamestown in Virginia. But it is believed that British lotteries may go back even further to Romany-Britain.

These days European countries have separate lotteries but also have one massive lottery but this is not the first instance of a European lotto draw. Jan Van Eyck had a lottery in 1446 to raise money and offering his paintings as prizes.

Belgium is a European country that was holding lotteries as far back as 1465 to pay for essential city works.

In 1530 Florence, Italy, offered cash prizes in a lottery and in 1539 the King of France, Francis I, held a lottery to try to ease the countries growing debt.

Th Netherlands have a national lottery that dates back to 1726 and has remained largely unchanged throughout the centuries.

Even before that we can see evidence for lotteries in China as far back as 200BC. The proceeds of some of these lotteries were used by the Chinese to pay for the building of The Great Wall.

We can determine that the lottery is way older than this though!

It is believed that lotteries date back as far as early Biblical times. The Book of Numbers clearly indicates that Moses was awarded land from a lottery win.
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