Who invented the lottery in Poland? Italians? The name of the first Polish lottery can suggest that the inventor was born in Italy.
In 1768 the lottery was one of the methods to earn money for the country and the king, so the main goal for the Polish lottery was to earn money and increase the wealth of the king. After a year it turned out that the Polish king Stanislaw has huge debts in the rich Italians.
There was no other solution than give the lottery to the Italians as a payment. They decided about the name Lotto di Genova. This lottery was really popular in Poland.
The player had to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 90. As you can see, the chances of winning the Lotto di Genova were much lower than chances in today's Polish Lotto, where the player has to pick 6 numbers from 1 to 49. The draws of the Lotto di Genova took place 2 times in a month – the winning numbers were chosen in the Krasiński Palace. The last draw of Lotto di Genova took place in 1839.
During the wars in Poland, nobody thought about lotteries. After the II World War one-off draws were organized to help with the reconstruction of buildings and to help poor people.
In 1957 "Totalizator Sportowy" was created and then the story of today's Polish Lotto begins. Today we can play Polish Lotto online. Today the national lottery supports the sports – some part of the income is earmarked to support athletes.
There are more stories about lottery organizers in Europe and other parts of the world. The very often main goal of the lottery was a charity or raise money for country development. Somebody, who invented the lottery, probably did not even think that the lotteries will develop and be one of the most popular amusements in the world.