The National Archives
The Million Lottery or Million Adventure was the first English state lottery, launched by the government in 1694 to raise finance for King William’s War with France (1688–1697). It was organised by the Master of the Royal Mint, Thomas Neale, and offered 100,000 tickets for sale, priced at £10 each. Each ticket had a 1 in 20 chance of winning a prize ranging from £10 to £1,000, along with an interest payment of £1 per year until 1710, guaranteeing a minimum return over the period of £16.[1]
The lottery was very profitable for Neale, who kept ten per cent of the proceeds, but less so for the government, which found it increasingly difficult to pay the interest on top of the prizes. By 1697 the lottery had a shortfall of £250,000, and was forced to suspend all payments until the following year.[2]
Draw
Managers were appointed by letters patentOfficial letters or instructions issued by or on behalf of the Crown. to produce books of numbered tickets, which were sold by Treasury-appointed Receivers. One part of the ticket was delivered to the purchaser, and the rest – signed by the buyer – was returned to the lottery managers along with an account for the money received.[3]
The draw itself featured two locked boxes, one containing a second part of each ticket sold and the other a matching number of tickets divided into blanks and prizes. Tickets were drawn alternately from the first and second boxes and paired off. Holders of tickets from the first box drawn immediately before a prize or “fortunate” ticket from the second box were allotted the corresponding prize.[3]
The draw took place in November 1694, but as even losing tickets still yielded £1 per annum for sixteen years they remained a tradeable commodity. From 1694 to 1701 the price fluctuated between £5 and £8.[4]
Million Bank
The Bank on Tickets of the Million Adventure, or Million Bank, was established in 1695 to invest in Million Lottery tickets. The company’s strategy was to persuade investors to sell their tickets to the bank at a discount, in return for which it offered a slightly smaller annual dividend than the Million Lottery but payable over a longer term. The bank made its money by investing the difference between what it received from its tickets and what it paid out in dividends to buy the reversion of government-issued single-life annuities, which could be converted into ninety-five year annuities, thus transforming a short-term investment into a long-term one for its subscribers.[5]
By 1796 all of the bank’s annuities had expired, and it was wound up.[5]