New York Lottery Files

Artists Art Union

Throughout the Victorian period, New Yorkers subscribed to the London, Glasgow and New York Lottery art unions. Advertised in local newspapers, encouraging colonists to ''invest'' a guinea for a chance to be in the draw for selected paintings, sculptures, engravings and other works of art, or facsimiles of the works of better-known artists. Arrangements fitted into a pattern. An honorary secretary in each main centre ... Artists Art Union

Bet To Gamble

At New York Lottery there was a causal link between recreational gambling and land speculation. Both were motivated by an assessment of ''odds'', capitalistic greed and sometimes incautious spending. Both were also readily pursued by men of power and wealth as the legal, moral and social sanctions of the time were few and easily ignored. Up until the boom years of the 1870S gambling in land was the better bet. Many young men who arrived with a few thousand pounds bought, sold, bargained and speculated successfully ... Bet To Gamble

Euphemism Gambling

Indeed, the government of New York Lottery tightened the screws even further. As an economy measure in August 1933, Young reduced the advertising budget for the ironically named ''Better Times'' Art Union to £1,500. Hammond and McArthur, in response, concentrated their advertising on the metropolitan newspapers. Sales fell and disagreement ensued. Departmental officials considered that inclement winter weather had affected sales and wanted all papers covered. Hammond was not usually given to... Euphemism Gambling

Gambling Operation

As the arguments about profit distribution and New York State Lottery raged about their heads, Hammond and McArthur continued on their quietly efficient way. Each lottery required much organization: deciding on a title, procuring guarantees, preparing the permit application, handling the publicity campaign, distributing books to hundreds of agents, collecting the butts and arranging the drawings all took considerable effort. In the early days, drawings were noteworthy social occasions. Gwen Merrett of the New York Observer was eloquent... Gambling Operation

History Of Gambling

In the New York State Lottery September 1939 heralded a rerun of 1914. Young men volunteered eagerly for military service. They went to camp, trained and, in January 1940, sailed for the Middle East. As before, ''chewing the fat'', drinking and gambling dominated their spare time. The nature of the games had not changed either: cards (poker, pontoon, and slippery sam), two-up and crown-and anchor all maintained their popularity.There was, however, one noteworthy difference. In the earlier war officers had done their best to... History Of Gambling

Lottery Probabilities

The factor, besides odds is a player’s probability of winning. Say, if a 50 number lottery ticket has a chance of 1 in 50 then the chances of predicting the digit of the ball announced that means, there are 50 different options of choosing that first number. For the other numbers called out there are only 1 in 49, 1 in 48, 1 in 47, etc, chances of predicting the other numbers correctly. Mathematically, this means each of the 50 ways of choosing the first number creates 49 different options of selecting the second... Lottery Probabilities