Lotteries and Government Finance in England
From the end of the seventeenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, writes Penry Williams, State Lotteries were a regular feature of English government finance first introduced by Queen Elizabeth I.
In the arguments over the morality of the Premium Bonds, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to launch, it seems to have been generally forgotten that State Lotteries are no new invention in England. For one hundred and thirty-two years, from 1694 until 1826, they were a regular feature of English government finance; and for many years before that time public lotteries had been encouraged by the State.
Indeed, the first recorded English lottery was promoted by Elizabeth I in 1566 for repairing the harbours of the country; it failed sadly and only one-twelfth of the tickets were bought. The prizes were correspondingly reduced, the lavish first prize of £5,000 sinking to a paltry £416 13s. 4d., “which,” said the Queen’s proclamation, “is the just twelfth part of five thousand pounds.”
This failure for some time discouraged any further enthusiasm for lotteries, but a few were held later in the reign and more after James I’s accession. The most important was a series of lotteries to raise money for colonizing Virginia.
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