Casanova And The Lottery
/A Record Powerball
In January 2016 we had the biggest jackpot in U.S. history with the Powerball – $1.5 billion. The games are hard to miss. Everyone talks about it and it’s well covered in the news.
Even if you never play the lottery, your imagination couldn't help but be tickled by the idea of winning millions of dollars. Just what would you do with all that money?
How Will You Spend Your Winnings?
Are you day-dreaming how you'd spend those winning dollars? Who doesn't enjoy a little financial fantasy now and then?
Articles popped up offering advice as to whether you should take the lump sum or the annuity. The annuity pays out your winnings annually over 30 years. Tax consequences were discussed.
Everyone wholeheartedly debated their spending options, never mind that they would likely never face this choice in real life. Forget that depressing detail. It's still fun to contemplate such a weighty decision.
The $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016 was won by three separate ticket holders, all in different states. The jackpot was split equally between them.
Even after paying significant taxes, they each had a sizable amount to spend. Divided among the three tickets, the cash lump sum was $310 million for each.
The First Lottery in France
As you chew on your pencil, bent over your Powerball ticket, deep in thought as to which numbers are going to let you sail away, you may not have considered where this whole idea of choosing six numbers started.
The first lottery in France was created in 1757. We have Casanova to thank for it.
Casanova – Professional Adventurer
Born in Venice, Italy: 02 April 1725; died in Dux, Bohemia: 04 June 1798.
Casanova is remembered today, thanks to his autobiography. Without it, his life stories would have slipped away with the ebb and flow of history.
“Worthy or not, my life is my subject, and my subject is my life.”
Casanova traveled and lived throughout Europe. He was well-educated and fluent in several languages. Although he was Italian, he wrote his autobiography entirely in eloquent French.
Most of us know the name Casanova as being associated with his reputation of being the world's greatest lover. Naturally, that is always a matter of opinion.
If his name is evoked in conversation: "He thinks he's a regular Casanova..." it tells us a man is wooing a maid, or many maids, in an overt manner. The definition of a casanova is a man who is passionate about women and has many lovers.
However, like most of us, he was multi-faceted. Not only did he write of his sexual conquests, he also revealed his life as a spy, librarian, gambler, mathematician, and bourgeois businessman. His favorite self-described avocation was that of professional adventurer.
Casanova – Founder Of The French Lottery
As part of his gambler and mathematician activities, Casanova convinced the King of France to sponsor a lottery to help raise money for the construction of a military school in Paris,
The Loterie de l'École Militaire was decreed on 15 October 1757.
“Rather than minimizing the lottery’s potential financial exposure, Casanova suggested that the state flaunt money to whet consumers’ appetites and to garner their confidence in the institution.
He suggested that the Royal Council guarantee the lottery for up to a hundred million livres. Others balked at such a large sum, but Casanova argued that such a measure would reassure consumers.
Moreover, he suggested that just the talk of such large sums of money would fire the imagination of consumers as they would project that money in their own hands.
Casanova offered the cautious men of finance a lesson in consumer psychology. As he told them: the thing is to dazzle.”
Quote from The Loterie de l'École Militaire: Making the Lottery Noble and Patriotic
by Robert Kruckeberg
Spinning numbers were chosen, much like today. That very first lottery in France raised the equivalent of 2 million francs in today's terms, an enormous sum for the era.
The Energy Of Abundance
What is abundance to you? It may not always be in the form of money. Examples of abundance may be the apples in your pie, or the family smiles around your holiday table, or the bird songs in your backyard.
Six Lucky Numbers
Addendum: in October 2018, after a run of no winners, the Mega Millions Lottery jackpot hit $1.6 billion. And with no winners in the Powerball as well, its jackpot is soaring up to $620 million.
The next time you play Powerball, even if you just imagine what you'd do with big winnings from the lottery, you might cast a thought to Casanova.
When we choose six lucky numbers, we evoke his memory.
Ah, Casanova, we do remember you.
