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Lotteries and Betting in History

Lotteries and Betting in History

Wagering is old, but the particular forms it takes are not. The lottery as a revenue instrument, the bookmaker as a maker of prices, and the pool as a way of sharing a common fund are three separate inventions with separate logics. These entries trace where each came from and what problem it was solving.

Entries in this category
Entries filed under Lotteries and Betting in History.
Entry typeEntryLast updatedSectionsFigures
narrative entryLotteries, from public finance to state monopoly

The lottery is the oldest surviving commercial form of chance, and for most of its history it was a financing instrument rather than an entertainment product.

17 August 202640
worked arithmeticBookmaking, odds notation and the overround

A bookmaker does not know the probabilities and does not need to. The book is balanced by pricing every outcome slightly short, so the implied probabilities sum to more than one.

17 August 202641
Sections within these entries
Lotteries, from public finance to state monopolyhistory
Bookmaking, odds notation and the overroundarithmetic
Jump to categoryThe Mathematics of OddsLotteries and Betting in HistoryHow Games Are BuiltRules and RegulationReturn to board index
Entry carries worked arithmetic with the steps shown.Entry is narrative: history, development or design reasoning.

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