The Revival of Lotteries in Britain

Lotteries were used frequently for public revenue purposes in Britain in the eighteenth century, but were abandoned in the 1820s. Before its introduction in 1994, a national lottery in some form was considered in Britain several times: in the 1930s, 1960s (it was even proposed in the budget of 1968), 1970s and 1990s. In the USA, and to a lesser extent Australia and New Zealand, lotteries had also had some historical significance which was overridden in the nineteenth century. In much of continental Europe, this provision was not altogether dismissed as a policy but, in all cases, gambling was restricted. Renewed ‘liberalization’ in the twentieth century was brought about by the pressure of popular demand and, more important, governments seeking revenue. Thus, lotteries were revived and extended in the post‐war years as supplementary sources of government finance. The political acceptability of state‐sponsored or supported gambling in turn led to the growth of other gambling media. In Britain, by contrast, almost all forms of gambling were gradually permitted in law, under strict controls, before a national lottery was revived. Thus, the social acceptability of gambling was well established beforehand. The major reason for a return to a lottery, however, was to raise money for public expenditure as a politically acceptable tax. For government to support and to depend on revenue from gambling marks a major turning point in public policy and control

Economic policy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Government revenue · Liberalization · Lottery · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Revenue · State (computer science · Tax revenue · Finance · Gambling Behavior and Treatments · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · Law

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