The history of the lottery dates back to ancient China, where the first records of lottery play date from between 205 and 187 BC. The money won from these games funded important government projects, such as the Great Wall of China. Later on, the lottery spread to the Roman Empire, where the first lotteries were organized as entertainment for dinner parties. Emperor Augustus also created the first commercial lottery, which was meant to raise money for repairs of the city.
There are online lottery sites in almost every state, with their primary utility being to display winning numbers, find locations, and contact information. However, a few of these lotteries have expanded their services to include Instant Games – casino-style games that allow players to wager on the results – on the web or a mobile app. This is a welcome development, and one that will likely increase lottery participation. But be wary of the lack of transparency.
There are a few major disadvantages to playing the lottery on the internet. For one thing, it requires download, and then periodic updates take up space on your device. And once you have the app, you can’t use it from your desktop – you must have a mobile device to use it. Moreover, the lottery apps are not as reliable as playing the lottery in a physical location. The biggest disadvantage of lottery apps is that they require download and may annoy you. Additionally, you can’t access the lotto results on your desktop.