| Gambling and lottery, either as a form of entertainment or government fundraising, has been with us ever since the inception of human civilization. Regardless of social moral standards nor the government's attitude towards it, gambling was never completely out of sight in our lives. Historically, people's general attitude towards gambling was one of gradual loosen-up with the development of human civilization: from strict prohibition for the fear of gambling's corruptive and erosive effects on production, to partial permission as the government realized its value in fundraising. In recent decades in some nations and regions gambling has been totally legalized under government regulation. People have come to realize that humans are born with the instinctive pursuit of excitement and satisfaction brought by wagering against the future, and it would be impossible to thoroughly bar it out of ordinary lives. Lottery, as one of the most important form of gambling, takes an essential role in government's legislation and attitudes on gambling. Nowadays, almost each and every government across the world has gradually realized the fact that lottery is an effective and important way to raise fund and swell the national coffers. Consequently, governments are switching their attitudes from strict prohibition to legalization, and the UK government has been doing extremely well in this sense, offering valuable experiences for China's gambling and lottery industry.Based on the discussions of the historic development of gambling and analysis on the motivation behind gambling participation from a sociological perspective, this thesis reviewed the development of UK lottery industry since WWII. The thesis then explores the operation of the National Lottery launched in 1993. The British government set up the National Lottery Commission in 1999, an independent lottery institution free from the influence of government to administrate and regulate the British lottery. The commission is in charge of granting operation license to qualified private lottery operator to run the business throughout the country. This unique administration system successfully avoids the dilemma of the government playing both the role of player and referee in lottery operation as is the case in China, where the state is in charge of both lottery operation and administration, a situation that is much prone to corruption for lack of effective regulation. Ever since its establishment, the National Lottery has raised accumulatively over (?)32 billion for the five "Good Causes", including Arts, Sports, Heritage, Health, Education, the Environment and Charitable Expenditure (HEECE) and Millennium, as well as over (?)2.2 billion for the 2012 London Olympics. The outstanding numbers demonstrate the effectiveness and success of National Lottery in fund raising.The thesis finds out that the British lottery industry has always been underdeveloped in size and scale as a result of the government's antipathy towards lottery as is demonstrated in restrictive legislation in the lottery's turnover and jackpot size. The thesis shows that it was not until the last decade of the 20th century when the government changed its attitudes and made supportive legislations that the National Lottery could quickly over took the former lottery forms and quickly became the most influential lottery in Britain. With the above, the thesis argues that for over twenty years since its initial kick-off, the National Lottery had supported Arts, Sports. HEECE and Millennium causes in Britain through its unique fund distribution and administration mode with the fund it raised. The thesis also explores the trend in lottery ticket selling to offer a panoramic view of the National Lottery. In conclusion, through the development review and analysis of gambling and lottery in Britain, this thesis offers insights and experiences to learn from for China's gambling and lottery industry. |
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