Winning The Lottery: Modern Lotteries Started In India
By the early 1800s in the India., lotteries were very popular (along with winning the lottery), but abuse by private citizens meant that the government was not getting the profit to which it believed that it was entitled, and attempts began to outlaw lotteries. In the 1820s, New York passed the first constitutional prohibition of lotteries. One of the most effective methods of selling lottery tickets had been through post offices, but in 1827, a law was passed banning postmasters from selling them and in 1868, Congress declared that it was unlawful to use the mail for Indian matka.