In 1948 a short story by Shirley Jackson The Lottery was published.  It was not well received, and even produced hate mail to both the author and the publication The New Yorker.  This story was about a lottery that made the “winner” the victim of a stoning death.

Not a very positive thought about something that is considered a game of chance, or is it?  In The Lottery each year one person was murdered by the other members of the village, but the rest of the village benefitted from it.  The idea was that the lotteries would take a life of one and benefit the lives of the rest by giving a good harvest.  Looking at it from that perspective, lotteries are a benefit to society in addition to the individual who purchases the ticket.

How can this be?  State lotteries are used to help support state programs like helping the elderly, or in the case of the ga lottery winning numbers, the money made from the sale of the tickets goes to help support Georgia education.  Scholarships are set up with the money from the ticket sales.  It helps to support Pre-K classes as well as college, university and technical school students who need financial assistance to further their education.

Through history these games have been used to finance government projects.  Evidence has been found of lotteries as far back as 207 to 185 B.C. in China, believed to have helped finance the Great Wall of China.  Even the Roman Empire had a lottery of sorts at their dinner parties.  All guests had a ticket and won some sort of prize that evening.  That’s a bit different than the high odds of actually winning in today’s drawings.

Today’s lotteries have very low odds of winning, but the amounts won can be astounding.  Some have turned this into a serious study of odds and past numbers.  The ga lottery winning numbers give some statistical data to those who research before choosing the numbers to play in any given drawing.  Taking a little time to research may well be worth it.  There are payouts listed from $10,000 to $49,000,000.  For as little as $20 the winnings can be millions.

Because there are so many large money prizes, ticket sales can sometimes set new records.  As a result Georgia has been able to give over $13 billion to the HOPE Scholarship Program.  This is the program made possible by the Georgia state lottery.

One interesting side note is that while the prizes are often more than many people see at one time in their life, many times the prizes are not even claimed!  If you choose to play the lottery be sure to double check your numbers for each drawing you play.

Lotteries have certainly come a long way since the story by Shirley Jackson The Lottery first saw print.  And aren’t we glad they did?  We prefer our lotteries as a game of chance with a fantastic prize for the winners.  It is doubtful there would be nearly as many people rushing to purchase tickets if the grand prize was a guaranteed death by stoning from your family and neighbors.