In this article we are going to discover how Voltaire, a French philosopher, rigged the lottery. We’re also going to learn how to avoid being scammed when betting on lottery with safe betting providers such as Lottoland, where you can bet on lotteries from all over the world and view the official lottery results.

Voltaire’s “luck”

Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in 1694. He was a famous writer who surrounded himself with the most important people of his day including philosophers, politicians and a brilliant mathematician, Charles Marie de la Condamine, who also used his skills to become a lottery scammer.

After going against his father’s dreams of Voltaire perusing a career in law, Voltaire fell on the wrong side of the French authorities and was no stranger to controversy. Aside from being exiled from Paris for a time in his early career, he was also imprisoned in the infamous Bastille prison in Paris for 11 months. He used this time to write, think and plan his next move.

Lotteries were extremely popular in eighteenth-century Paris after having been a financial crisis in 1719, where France had nearly gone bankrupt. This general financial uncertainty contributed to the public’s enthusiasm to participate in such a get-rich-quick scheme, hence why lotteries were all the rage.

At the start of 1729, Michel Robert Le Pelletier-Desforts, who was a deputy finance minister for France, had a “great” idea to increase the value of existing bonds, boost the sale of new bonds, and generate income for the government - a trifecta. Only bond-holders could purchase tickets in this specific lottery, and the price was pegged to the value of the bond. Winners would cash in the face value of the bond - which was more than what they could get on the market at this point - plus an extra 500,000-livre jackpot, a huge sum of money at the time.

Today it is difficult to explain how much 500,000 livres is exactly in modern day pounds. However, in broad references, it would equate to roughly £4.9 million today or about £5 million worth of gold at the time. The winning person would certainly walk away set for life.

However, the mathematics behind this new government fundraising scheme was highly flawed. This is due to the reason that if someone owned a bond worth a comparably small amount, with the lotto ticket for the bond costing just 1/1000th of the value, you could purchase the lotto tickets cheaply. However, your lotto ticket basically had the same chance of winning as someone who owned a bond for 100,000 livres and had to buy their ticket for 100 livres, for example.

Therefore, when La Condamine (Voltaire’s mathematician friend) examined the numbers, he found out that if he was able to purchase a certain percentage of the existing small bonds, he could then obtain the necessary entrees in the lotto to guarantee he’d win, all while spending a lot less than the jackpot whilst making a profit on the bonds themselves when he ultimately won and the government had to pay face value for them.

To carry out the scheme, the pair needed investors to assure they could purchase enough bonds to guarantee that they’d win. This is where Voltaire comes in. Voltaire was not wealthy nor particularly well known at this point. However, he was extremely charismatic, had a lot of good connections, and had developed a dislike and scepticism for the French government.

The pair were able to create a syndicate with numerous wealthy individuals with plentiful capital to purchase the necessary bonds and lottery tickets.  The issue was that there were only a few times one could go to get the lottery tickets.  If one person was seen to be the recipient of most of the lottery tickets each time, the scheme would quickly fail as the government would realize what was occurring.  Voltaire again proved his smarts by working out a deal with one of the notaries empowered to issue lotto tickets.

The plan worked.

Voltaire explained that when he was younger, he knew lots of writers who were “penniless and held in contempt” that “he had long since decided not to add to their number.” Thanks to his new-found wealth he was able to pursue his life as a writer. He then also carried out his campaign against despotism and intolerance he observed in France at that time.

Thanks to his lottery fortune Voltaire would become one of the great heroes of the Enlightenment and of human rights.

Bet safely with Lottoland

Lottoland is a global leader in online lottery. When you bet at Lottoland you are putting a bet on the official lottery results rather than purchasing a ticket. You get the same winning numbers and the chance to win identical prizes and jackpots but with more great deals and ways to enjoy the lottery.

Simply select the draw, choose your numbers and submit your line or lines. Hit any of the prize tiers available on the official draw. You can then view the official lottery results to see if you are the next big winner! At Lottoland you are guaranteed that you will be paid out on your winnings - regardless of the jackpot amount. 

Lottoland offers you the chance to bet on the Eurojackpot alongside the supersized MegaMillions and PowerBall draws from the States. Lottoland also has favourites with better odds of winning over the UK National Lotto like the Irish Lottery, Polish Lottery and Polish Mini Lotto and many more big draws from Europe and beyond.  

You can also learn a little bit from Voltaire and join a lottery syndicate with Lottoland to increase your chances of winning by buying bets on multiple numbers and even multiple lotteries.

Nowadays it is impossible to scam the lottery, and if you carry out any sort of fraud you will get penalised heavily for it. So, now that we know how to bet safely with Lottoland, don’t risk it and enjoy the large jackpots from all around the world now available to you in the UK!

Good luck!