1566 & 1569 - Queen Elizabeth I announced England’s first ever national lottery. The lottery was dawn 3 years later on this day in 1569. It was intended to raise much needed funds to build up the English Royal Navy. Elizabeth wrote the instructions for her draw in a letter to Sir John Spencer, ordering him to produce books of tickets to be sent to major towns and cities across the land. There would be 400,000 lots, she said, and the prizes should be entrusted to 'persons of good trust' until the winners were able to claim them.