The lottery is very old indeed. The word lottery itself dates back to the Netherlands. The word lottery has its roots in the Dutch word "loterij" which means "fate".
The National Lottery in Britain may have only started in the mid 1990s but Britain has been having lotteries since Queen Elizabeth I as far back as 1567.Later in the early part of the 17th Century King James I of England ran a lottery to finance the building of the first British colony in America - Jamestown, Virgina. 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.
The modern day Dutch lottery is the same game that has been played in the country since its inception in 1726.
Lotteries existed in China for thousands of years dating back to times before Christ. This game was so popular that it is still played today as the modern Keno and proceeds from the original game were used to build The Great Wall of China.
However, the lottery is much older than that!
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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