November
12
/ 2022
As you wait with baited breath for your lottery numbers to be called out, spare a thought for the people who took part in England’s first state lottery in the 16th century. Seen as an ideal solution to fund much-needed port infrastructure and investment in the English Navy, Elizabeth I gave the go-ahead for a harebrained scheme to sell lottery tickets. The prizes even included the Elizabethan-era equivalent of a get out of jail free card. While the accession of Elizabeth I had been welcomed in 1558, the Catholic threat in Europe began to take its toll. Dependent as the economy was on the cloth trade which made up two-thirds of England’s exports, Elizabeth had to put the country, and
