Fun Facts: The Lottery, More Than Just Numbers

Most of us have played in the lottery a time or two, most often because that big number for the jackpot is mighty enticing. Every time a player decides to buy a lottery ticket, they are providing funds and contributing to many different entities including education, public safety and a whole lot more! The lottery today is found in many different states and tickets can be purchased many different ways. Today, players can even make their purchase of a lottery ticket online in some states. Here are some of the things around the world that were paid for by the local lotteries.

Ivy League Colleges
The longest running, elite colleges didn’t just arise from nowhere, somehow they had to come up with the funds to erect buildings and dorms right? The campus elites of their time started lotteries to raise money to earn enough to build and maintain the buildings needed. The schools that relied on lotteries included; Dartmouth, Columbia, UPenn, Harvard and Yale. Maybe this is where the education committees came up with the idea to provide funds to schools once the lottery was in place?

The Roads to Rome
Having roads created and maintained can cost a ton of money, this is where the lotteries come into play. Instead of taxing the citizens of the country, the lottery helped to fund the roads to Rome, making travel easier and less of a burden on those who live there.

The Great Wall of China
While the entire wall was not built from Lottery funds, a portion of it was. The Western Han Dynasty used a lottery system to pay for the repairs of the wall as well as to expand it. The specific Lottery used was more like the game of Keno which was formally called the “White Pigeon Game.” It was named this way after the birds who carried the results of the winning games from village to village.

The Lottery Today
The lottery that we know today is a big help to communities in 21 different states. In conjunction with the Powerball, the lottery will bring in at least $114 Million for a $380 Million Jackpot. Each state will allocate their funds differently but for the most part, the funds go toward environmental protection, education and many others. In unfortunate cases, the money for the lottery in some states like Florida, is not given to public entities like schools and education, instead the politicians use the funds how they please. In Arizona, the funds are doing a whole lot of good. On average, the Powerball revenue is around $24 million. Those funds go toward a Heritage Fund for state parks as well as training for those who volunteer to advocate for children who are wrapped up in the court systems.

As you can see, there are many different ways that money can be spent. Each of the different states and countries will control how they spend their lottery revenue. Most of the time the citizens will contribute in hopes that the funds will be put to good use, and in most cases it is.