| L'Éclaireur du dimanche - June 14, 1925 |
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For the First Time... Everyone, in Parliament and elsewhere, is currently looking for a way to boost our finances, and there's renewed talk of the lottery combination, a true voluntary tax: the national lottery. Spain and Italy have drawn official revenue from it; let's not be too moralistic! May this moral principle perish rather than France's budget! Our role, in the meantime, is to trace the history of the lottery. Its origins are certain: every year, Genoa drew lots from among the eighty senators of Genoa, the five people who would preside over the destiny of the Republic; as many balls as there were senators, but five were marked with the coat of arms of Genoa. The lucky owners of the five marked balls drawn at random became the holders of supreme power. The crowd was interested in this drawing. This type of lottery quickly became a passion, and bets were placed on the names of the future winning senators; from the highest to the lowest, every Genoese acquired a taste for this political game. Then, shrewd bankers offered to centralize the bets; but they retained a commission, which they shared with the state. This first lottery took place in 1620. L. MAINARD. |
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