Lottery

Lotteries, a form of gambling involving random number drawings for prizes, are often regulated or even organized by governments to raise revenue, a practice that surged globally after the 1960s following their illegality in the early 20th century. The earliest recorded signs of lotteries date back to China's Han dynasty (205-187 BC) with keno slips, believed to have financed major projects like the Great Wall. In ancient Rome, Emperor Augustus organized a lottery for city repairs, offering prizes of unequal value.

The first European lotteries offering money prizes appeared in the Low Countries in the 15th century, used by towns to fund fortifications and aid the poor, and were hailed as a "painless form of taxation." The Dutch Staatsloterij, established in 1726, remains the oldest running lottery. In Italy, the game of Lotto evolved in Genoa from betting on randomly drawn Great Council members to betting on numbers, laying the foundation for modern lotteries.