Lottery, a game of chance; a distribution of prizes by lot or chance, Taylor v. Smetten, (1883) 11 QBD 207. By 10 & 11 Wm. 3, c. 17, Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Games,' all lotteries were declared to be public nuisances, and all grants, patents, or licences for the same to be contrary to law; and the (English) Gaming Act, 1802 (42 Geo. 3, c. 119), imposes a penalty of 500l. on any person keeping any place for any lottery' not authorized by Parliament' for as lotteries were found to be a ready mode for raising money for the service of the state, they were from time to time sanctioned by Acts of Parliament passed expressly for this purpose (see 4 Geo. 4, c. 60), but by 6 Geo. 4, c. 60, they were abolished. As to what constitutes 'keeping' within the Act of 1802, see Martin v. Benjamin, (1907) 1 KB 64; but a body corporate cannot be convicted (s. 41) as rogues and vagabonds, Hawke v. Hulton, (1909) 2 KB 93.
A physical lot is not essential to a lottery, Barclay v. Pearson, (1893) 2 Ch 154. In that case the defendant had realized more than 20,000l. in one week by a shilling 'missing word competition,' and one of the successful competitors suing him for his proportion of the prize, Stirling, J., declined to assist the plaintiff, and ordered the 20,000l. which had been brought in to Court to be paid up to the defendant, 'to defend himself by means of it against any legal claim, and to dispose of the surplus as he might deem in honour bound to apply it.; for lottery by sale of tea in packets with prizes, see Taylor v. Smetten, (1883) 11 QBD 207; and see also Willis v. Young, (1907) 1 KB 448; Hall v. Cx, (1899) 1 QB 198; Bartlett v. Parker, (1912) 2 KB 497.
By the (English) Betting and Lotteries Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 58), subject to the provisions of Part II., all lotteries are unlawful. Sect. 22 sets out offences in connection with lotteries, e.g., printing, distributing tickets, advertising, sending money out of Great Britain etc.; s. 23 exempts small lotteries incidental to certain entertainments; s. 24 exempts private lotteries; s. 25 deals with Art Unions, which are exempted; s. 26 deals with newspaper competitions which do not depend to a substantial degree upon the exercise of skill; s. 27 deals with the power of justices to issue a search warrant if satisfied upon oath that there is reasonable ground to believe that premises are being used for illegal lotteries. See the statutes collected in Chitty's Statutes tit. 'Games and Gaming.' (Betting & Lotteries Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 58).
A 'lottery' means a chance for a prize for a price and unless all the three essential elements, namely chance, consideration and prize are present the scheme or the transaction would not amount to a lottery, H. Anraj v. Government of Tamil Nadu, AIR 1986 SC 63: (1986) 1 SCC 414.
There are three ingredients in the sale of lottery tickets namely (i) prize, (ii) chance and (iii) consideration when one purchases a lottery ticket, he purchases for a price, which is by chance and the consideration is the price of the ticket, B.R. Enterprise v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (1999) 9 SCC 700 (746).
A lottery is 'a scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance', Emperor v. Gurbaksh Singh, AIR 1934 Lah 840.
Lottery means a scheme, in whatever form and by whatever name called for distribution of prizes by lot or chance to these persons participating in the chances of a prize by purchasing tickets. [Lotteries Regulation Act, 1998 (17 of 1998), s. 2(b)]
View Judgments Citing this Phrase View Acts Citing this Phrase