This is your hyperlinks lottery. What you basically got is this bit a writing, with almost every word a link to a different site, so when you click on the text you get whisked away to a destination (website) not of your choice. It's crazy crazy crazy! Crazy. Just like the good lottery you have very little chance of getting anything good. Don't cheat by looking at that writing in the bottom corner of the screen which tells you where the links go to, because that would spoil the er... fun.
I INTRODUCTION Lottery (prizewinning), drawing of lots for the distribution of prizes, usually money, to the winners among those who purchase a chance. A lottery is considered a form of gambling, because the value of the prize is greater than the cost of the ticket, and no skill is involved in winning.
II
HISTORY
Lotteries
are of ancient origin; they were used in the
entertainments of the Roman emperors and
later of the feudal princes of Europe. The
first state lottery is believed to have
been held in 1520 in France, where
lotteries became an important source of
royal
revenue. Private lotteries also flourished
in France until 1776, when all
were
suppressed or merged into the royal lottery. In Italy,
lotteries became popular
after 1530, when the city of Florence
held one offering money prizes. The
lottery was introduced in England in
1569 under the patronage of Queen
Elizabeth
I. In the American colonies
lotteries were authorized by the colonial
legislatures to raise funds
for such public purposes as the paving of
streets,
the construction of wharves, and the erection of churches.
Lotteries suffered a decline in
the 19th century. The frequency of fraud
in the operation of private lotteries
resulted in their prohibition by
many countries, and subsequently most public
lotteries also were discontinued. Great Britain ceased to
employ the lottery as
a source of public revenue in 1826. France
abolished its national lottery in
1836.
III
REVENUE-RAISING DEVICES
Lotteries were still being used in
the 20th century by some governments and by charitable and religious
institutions to raise revenue. Spain, Italy, Japan, and a number of other
countries hold public lotteries; France reinstituted its national lottery in
1933 as did Great Britain in 1994. During World War II the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) promoted the sale of bonds by giving away a lottery
ticket with each bond purchase.
The new British National Lottery,
launched in November 1994, is the latest example of lotteries taking advantage
of new technology. At launch around 10,000 computer terminals, distributed
across various retailers throughout Great Britain, were linked together, with
many thousands more expected to be added
over time. At its launch, the
organizers of the National Lottery anticipated that around £32 billion would be
raised over a seven year period. A notable feature of the UK National Lottery is
the explicit allocation of a proportion of the revenues for charities and other
good causes: 28 pence of every £1 lottery ticket will be split evenly between
charities, the arts, the national heritage, the Millennium Commission, and
sport. Various bodies have been established to receive claims from those
eligible to apply, and it is likely that the National Lottery will become one of
the largest sources of funds for charities and the other "good causes"
in Great Britain.