Writings, notes and papers > Genoa and the history of finance: a series of FIRSTS? > Chapter 8   Chapter 8 - The Lottery and selection to public office Abstract State officials were selected by a “draw” of the candidates for public office. The event was paired with a yearly lottery with stakes of 1 florin and a rich jackpot; a poor servant won the first prize of 1000 lire, a sum equal to the yearly salary of 10 chancellors… Where can one find such a combination of events between the end of the XIV century and the beginning of the XV century ? Only in Genoa. Definition Lottery. An arrangement for the distribution of prizes by chance among persons purchasing tickets. Slip or lots, numbered in correspondance with the tickets, and representing either prizes or blanks, are drawn from a wheel. Usually intended as a means of raising money for the benefit of the promoters, of the state, or of some charitable institution (The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.). Documentation (1) All the documents presented below belong to the same ledger and record a lottery held in Genoa in 1415, according to an old tradition. 26     In Christi nomine, 1415 die 10 decembris 1   Guillermus Gaierdus de pecunia Dominici Gaierdi eius fratris, cuxitoris in platea de Marinis 2   Iacobus de Vernengo de Monellia filius Michaelis     die 11 decembris 3   Gaspar Lomellinus Nicolai primus 4   Angellus Lomellinus de peccunia Gasparis fratris primus 5   Dominicus Lomellinus de peccunia Gasparis fratris primus 6   Nicolaus Lomellinus de peccunia Gasparis Lomellini Nicolai primus 7   Gaspar Lomellinus Nicolai secundus 8   Gaspar Lomellinus Nicolai tercius ...   ... 3459   Catalina serva  Baptiste Barisoni 3460   Michael Scharia spaerius ...     4574   Banina uxor Gregorii de Campofregoso olim Porchi     sunt nomina 4574, vallent £ 5717.10.00 que nomina lecta fuerunt 1417 die 12 et 13 februarii This first document is a list of people who bet 1 florin in the hope of being drawn for lottery prizes. Their names are recorded on different lines, one after the other and one line for each bet placed. People who bet several times, such as Gaspar Lomellinus, are listed the corresponding number of times with the indication primus (first), secundus (second), etc after the name. Those taking part are men and women, nobles and commoners, free men and slaves; once they place a bet, their names are recorded and they are assigned a consecutive number. At the end of the list the total amount of the bets is recorded, in this case 4574 florins, equivalent to lire 5717.10.00. The public reading of the listed names and the draw had been made on the 12th and on the 13th of February 1417 and then the draw took place. Documentation (2) 1417 die 12 et 13 februarii Officia nº 75 que capiunt summarium de £ 2100 anni de 1415 sortizata per spectabillem officium dominorum octo Proptectorum et procura torum comperarum Sancti Georgii millesimo et die predictis Debent nobis     Pro Catalina serva Baptiste Barixoni in 89 £ 1000 Item pro Luchessa filia Benedicti de Andoria notarii in 89 £ 200 Item pro Imperialle Gentilli in 89 £ 100 Item pro Guillermo Lora de Diano in 89 £ 50 … £    Item pro Francischa Ricia etc. in 89 £ 25 … £   Item pro Margarita sclava Antonii de Oliva in 90 £ 25 Item pro Vinciguerra Boetio in 90 £ 10 …     Item pro Prospero de Medico in 93   5 …     Item pro Iohannes Silvano in 98   5     –––– Sunt per totum   2100 Above is the list of the lucky winners, drawn on the 12th and 13th of February 1417. There are 75 prizes in total, recorded in order of their value: the first prize, won by the servant Catalina (recorded under number 3459 in the previous document), is worth 1000 lire; the second prize is worth 200 lire and the third 100 lire; then there are four prizes worth 50 lire each, eight prizes worth 25 lire each, twenty prizes worth 10 lire each and forty prizes worth 5 lire each, for a total of 2100 lire. Historical background Current opinion is that the national lottery started originally with the bets placed in Genoa in the late XVI century during the biannual selection of five public officials. Reports of sparse, older lotteries can also be found: in Milan in 1448 there were seven prize draws, the first worth 100 ducats. In 1468 there is a record of a lottery with a series of prizes ranging from 500 to 5 lire and with 10000 tickets sold for 1 lira each. In Venice public lotteries were banished between 1522 and 1529 27. Documentary evidence shown here yet again demonstrates a first for the city of Genoa. Sixty one ledgers still exist out of an original group of eighty five, recording public lotteries coupled with draws for public office between 1374 and 1468. Therefore these lotteries precede those better known which date back to the XVI century. The ledgers, unfortunately not always complete, follow the same pattern of assigning public office by lottery, that is mentioned in the laws of 1363 as normal practice. The selection by lottery of individuals to hold public office from among the different political groups of the town (nobles and commoners, merchants and artisans) took place on a yearly basis, usually in January. The event was linked to a public lottery, with a cash prize to be drawn among those who, in the previous months, purchased tickets worth 1 florin each. Both draws of officials and of winners were conducted in the town hall in one session, thereby confirming the link between the two. The documentation, although not very clear on the matter, seems to suggest that the net difference between the total amount of the bets and the jackpot was, in a first instance, used as revenue to the “compere del capitolo”. In a second instance it was used by new public officials to pay the tax on their wages (“introitus staliarum”). The 1408 ledger is quite clear on the matter: if the total amount of bets exceeds the amount of the tax, then the public officials will be drawn (the “officia ad sortes”) and the new officials will receive the amount of the tax to pay into the bank within four months, in accordance with the rules. 28 There is further documentation regarding other aspects of the draw, primarily the equipment bestowed upon the deputy chancellor. Of course an inkpot, ink and quill, a stack of paper, a few thick ledgers to record the names of the offices and of the contestants, scissors, two canvas bags to store the slips of paper with the names (“pro ponendo apodixias nominum et officiorum”), a bag to collect the slips of paper with the winners’ names (“pro ponendo nomina lecta ut moris est”), sometimes a set of scales to check the weight of the coins received (1 florin per bet). In 1415 two chancellors were in charge of reading out the names, whilst in 1460 a young lad did it. He probably did not have an easy task: a policeman stood at his side to avoid any disturbance. A monk supervised operations, bestowing with his moral authority a legitimacy to the draw; he received in exchange an award of three units of wheat for his monastery. Notes: 26 A.S.G., Archivio di San Giorgio,serie “Floreni sortium”, n° 185,20329. The text respects the original language, but the roman numerals have been replaced by Arabic numbers. ^ 27 A. Pertile, Storia del diritto italiano, vol. II, pt. II, p. 376. ^ 28 A.S.G., Archivio di San Giorgio, pand. 18 E, n. 185,20322. ^