The Million Lottery or Million Adventure was the first English state lottery and was launched by the government in 1694.
5-661: The brainchild of speculator and Master of the Royal Mint Thomas Neale , the lottery was created in order to raise money for the Exchequer . 100,000 £10 tickets were offered for sale as one of a series of measures to raise revenue to allow English participation in the Nine Years' War against France . Other contemporary financial innovations included the granting of a royal charter to the Bank of England and
10-659: A tradable commodity after the lottery draw (in November 1694), because each ticket still yielded £1 a year for 16 years. The price of a ticket fluctuated around £5-8 during 1694-1701. Master of the Mint Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an office in the governments of Scotland and England , and later Great Britain and then
15-462: The United Kingdom , between the 16th and 19th centuries. Until 1699, the appointment was usually for life. Its holder occasionally sat in the cabinet. During the interregnum (1643–1660), the last Master of the Mint to King Charles , Sir Robert Harley , transferred his allegiance to Parliament and remained in office. After his death in 1656 Aaron Guerdon was appointed. In 1870 the role
20-524: The creation of the country's first national debt . Neale received 10% of the lottery's proceeds. The 'Bank on Tickets of the Million Adventure' or Million Bank was established in 1695 to manage the assets of subscribers. In 1699 all other lotteries in England were banned but 42 further lotteries were run on the same basis until 1768. In an ostentatious demonstration of security, tickets for
25-463: The lottery were kept in special chests with 18 locks. The tickets were also bonds and were redeemable over a 16-year period. In fact, the fund exhibited a shortfall almost immediately and could not keep up with repayments until 1698 when the war was over. Since each ticket sold at £10, and offered £1 per year for 16 years, plus a lottery reward, its annual interest rate is 10+x%, where x is random. In expectation, x = 1.5. The tickets themselves remained
#18981