It was not until the late 16th century that the English first began to offer lotteries, the first recorded British lottery being chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1566 and not drawn until 1569. The lottery was chartered to raise funds for the " reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes". However this lottery was very different from those previously implemented as each ticket holder won a prize and the total of the value of the prizes given equaled the amount of money raised, thereby making the money raised by the lottery more or less a loan to the government over the 3 years that tickets were sold.
After this first initial lottery, the government sold the rights to sell lottery tickets to brokers who in turn hired agents and runners to sell them to the public, thus creating the forerunner of the modern day stockbroker. Government- run lotteries were managed this way until 1826 when Parliament declared the final lottery. During the period before that however many private lotteries were also held, including one to raise money for The Virginia Company of London to support the settlement in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
Nowadays when we have internet there are many other games being as much popular as lottery like online bingo or online keno.
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