To know the origins of the Polish Lotto, we must go back to the middle of the XXVIII century, it is from when we have knowledge of the first contacts with the first numerical games.
There is no record of distribution of prizes, but the all collected funds were destined to charity works. Nothing related with the current intentions of playing the lottery to create economic and financial freedom.
Origin of the Polish Lotto
It would not be until 1768, when the “Sejm” (the lower house of the Polish parliament) considered that the lottery should be one of the sources of income of the Treasury.
That lottery was known as Lotto di Genova, because of to the enormous debts incurred by the then king of Poland, Stanislaw, with the Italian lobbies, that were granted the exploitation of said lottery. And that’s where the name comes, with Italian roots.
This lottery had a game system in which a combination of 5 numbers from a list of 90 have to be guessed. The chances of success were much lower compared to the current lottery.
After various changes and that the lottery moved to depend on the Polish state, they wanted to give the raffles the solemnity of great events.
But the continuous political changes, the two world wars, the partitions of the territory between Russia, Prussia and Austria, made de facto the disappearance of the Country. And the lotteries, for obvious reasons, did not have as much interest as before. However, the Polish Welfare Council organized games that were motivated for charitable causes and to help war victims.
Polish lottery today
The following years were the moment of maximum splendor of the regional lotteries, available only in specific parts of the country. For example: in Poznań, Koziołki, or in Krakow for the festivity of Lajkonika.
In 1956, the Totalizator Spotowy, owner of the Lotto brand that will operate the various lottery games for 60 years, is definitively established and focuses on the current Polish Lotto, where a you need to choose combination of 6 numbers out of 49 possible. The probabilities of hitting the jackpot is 1 in 13 million.