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Definition: lottery from Philip's Encyclopedia

Form of gambling whereby participants pay to enter and winners are picked by a method based on chance. This method often involves participants choosing numbers. They win if their numbers correspond to numbers picked randomly by the lottery organizer during a subsequent draw.


lottery

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
scheme for distributing prizes by lot or other method of chance selection to persons who have paid for the opportunity to win. The term is not applicable when lots are drawn without payment by the interested parties to determine some matter, e.g., the distribution of property among heirs. The absence of any element of skill or play distinguishes the lottery as a form of gambling. Under common law in England and the United States lotteries were lawful. They paid for many public buildings and founded and supported educational, charitable, and religious enterprises. Private lotteries, which were particularly susceptible to fraudulent practices, were first generally prohibited in the early 19th cent. Most publicly sponsored lotteries were discontinued not long afterward. With the adoption in 1890 of a federal statute prohibiting the transportation of lottery tickets or prizes by mail or in interstate commerce, the largest American state lottery—that of Louisiana—came to an end. It was not…
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Full text Article lotteries

From Encyclopedia of American Business History
Games of chance in which individuals are sold tickets, giving them the opportunity to win a drawing of cash or some other prize. Lotteries originated in Italy in the 16th century and spread to England and other parts of Europe. A lottery affecting America was conducted as early as 1612 in London for…
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Full text Article lottery

From Routledge Dictionary of Economics
A game of chance to obtain prizes funded by the sale of tickets; a set of pay-offs each with its own probability. In Italian ‘lotto’ means destiny or fate. Lotteries are as ancient as Moses’ in the Book of Numbers, chapter 26, and Julius Caesar's to fund repairs to Rome. Several major US…
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Full text Article lottery

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Game of chance in which tickets sold may win a prize. State-sponsored lotteries are an effective means of raising revenue, often used for charitable and other public needs. Types of lottery In the UK lotteries are subject to strict government regulation. There are four main types of lawful lottery: …
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Full text Article lottery

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
scheme for distributing prizes by lot or other method of chance selection to persons who have paid for the opportunity to win. The term is not applicable when lots are drawn without payment by the interested parties to determine some matter, e.g., the distribution of property among heirs. The…
| 259 words
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Full text Article lottery

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Drawing of lots in which prizes are distributed to the winners among persons buying a chance. A form of gambling , lottery in its modern form may be traced to 15th-century Europe. The Continental Congress in 1776 voted to establish a lottery to raise funds for the American Revolution. By the…
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Full text Article National Lottery

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Lottery launched by the British government in November 1994 to raise money for the arts, sports, charities, national heritage, and the Millennium Commission, set up to celebrate the year 2000. Of the weekly takings, 50% is used as prize money, 28% goes to the above causes, 12% is taken in taxes, and…
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Full text Article eye lottery

From Political Philosophy A-Z
This is a thought experiment designed to highlight some issues in the discussion of distributive justice . Suppose a significant minority of the population of a country are born without eyes. However, medical procedures exist which allow for the generally successful transplantation of eyes from…
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Full text Article natural lottery

From Political Philosophy A-Z
Term used by Rawls and others to illustrate the capricious nature of the distribution of advantages. It seems uncontroversial to say that we are responsible – and may reasonably be blamed – for what we choose to do, and not for what happens by chance. It seems uncontroversial, too, to say that we…
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Full text Article Lottery paradox

From Philosophy of Science A-Z
Imagine a fair lottery with n tickets and suppose, for simplicity, that each ticket is sold to different people. One of them will be the winner. The probability that an arbitrary ticket will not win is 1–1/ n . (If there are 1,000 tickets, the probability that an arbitrary ticket will not win is…
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Full text Article lottery paradox

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
a paradox involving two plausible assumptions about justification which yield the conclusion that a fully rational thinker may justifiably believe a pair of contradictory propositions. The unattractiveness of this conclusion has led philosophers to deny one or the other of the assumptions in…
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