government sponsored gambling

A handbill advertising tickets and shares in the state lottery of 1780. In this instance 16,021 prizes were issued against 31,979 blank tickets for a total jackpot of £480,000.

First introduced in 1569, by 1780 the government's monopoly on hosting lotteries had become an important means of raising state finance. Leading stockbrokers like Brooksbank and Ruddle were invited by the Treasury to tender tickets which could then be sold on to the public for a premium. This method ensured the government would make a clear profit without risk, whilst the public, who seldom bought single shares, 'most people taking a fourth, an eighth, or a sixteenth of a ticket' (Ashton), would not feel the effect of the rise in price.

Handbill, 8vo (23 x 15 cm); single leaf; tape residue to margins, small pin-hole not affecting text (0.25 cm), historic fold lines.

Ashton, (A History of English Lotteries), p.90.