Lotteries are one of the most popular and widely played forms of gambling in the world. Many players will remember when the National lottery began in England, and will have seen how many more lottery games have cropped up in the two decades since. The Camelot group by no means started the idea of a lottery, though, and the history of the game goes back a lot further than one may expect. Now there are lotteries played in countries in every continent in the world, including new forms of playing, such as scratch cards. The internet has also served to boost the game’s popularity ten-fold.

The first forms of lottery hark back as far as the Han Dynasty in China between 205 and 187 BC, and the funds raised by sales were used to build the Great Wall of China. It wasn’t until the Roman Empire that the first records of lotteries in Europe were discovered, but in those days they were used mainly as entertainment at dinner parties.

In the last hundred years, national lotteries in various countries across the world have been established, and the popularity of them has meant that the games have enjoyed continued success. In England, the National Lottery kicked off a phenomenon that now includes multiple weekly lotteries, the EuroMillions, and various scratch cards that players can play at any time.

The internet has made things even simpler, and people can now do all of their lottery betting online, allowing them to not only play the lottery games available in their country of residence, but also to play select games from other countries. In the past, a lot of players would choose their favourite numbers and wait to play them on the National Lottery every Saturday. Now they have the opportunity to play those numbers across a wide range of different lotteries around the world, and massively increase their chances of winning a big jackpot.

Because the games in different countries take place at different times, fans of this form of gambling can enjoy it every day, and even when they are not playing, there are also scratch cards available.

It is fair to say, that since the Han Dynasty and the Romans, the lottery has come a long way. And as the internet becomes an even vaster place, the scope for playing lottery games is endless. So choose those lucky numbers, and get playing today.