Depression lottery is now 80
THIS week marks the 80th anniversary of lotteries in NSW.
Needless to say, in 1931 there were no quick-pick cards or live televised broadcasts of the numbers being picked.
The first lottery was organised to raise money for a gaping hole in funds for NSW hospitals during the height of the depression.
A large barrel containing 100,000 numbered marbles and weighing 1.78 tonnes was turned by hand.
The winning marble, number 40,977, was removed with what were termed “instruments of torture”.
Owner of Curtis News in Tweed Heads South, Scott Golden, said in his five years as a newsagent he had seen some customers get lucky.
“We've had a couple of good second prize winners about a year ago,” he said.
NSW Lotteries chief executive Bill Thorburn said NSW Lotteries was excited to celebrate the milestone.
“Throughout the past 80 years, NSW Lotteries has seen the creation of more than 1300 millionaires in NSW with more than $18 billion paid in prizes,” Mr Thorburn said.
