Fantasy, Speculation, and the British State Lottery in the Eighteenth Century

The state lottery in the eighteenth century was a striking success, both as a support to public finance and as a financial product. This chapter seeks to explain this success, but also examine who adventured in the lottery and with what motivations. Systematic data on purchase of tickets is sparse, but overall patterns are fairly clear, as is the extent to which lottery speculations fed off fantasies of easy and rapid enrichment and, for many, a consequent transformation in social circumstances and status. In this way, the success of the lottery can shed light on contemporary preoccupations with upward social mobility and the achievement of independence, as well as attitudes towards risk and economic gain.