Risk-lovers paradise: Lotteries and risk-taking in the Low Countries, 1441-1700
- Jeroen Putttevils
- © 2026 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.29
Various documents pertaining to lotteries in the Low Countries between 1441 and 1700 show that both lottery players and organizers saw the lottery as a form of risk, they “adventured” on it. Some players invested large sums of money and co-operated with one another in syndicates to spread their risks; the lottery organizers risked losing a lot of funds if their lottery did not attract enough revenue to cover its costs. Lotteries were about the domestication and popularisation of risk, to channel funds risk-loving lottery ticket buyers towards the coffers of the lottery organizers, whether they be governments, churches, or private entrepreneurs. Two and half centuries of lottery sources will be examined to investigate shifts in the discourse of risk that pertains to lotteries.
- Keywords:
- lotteries,
- risk-loving,
- risk-mitigation,
- Low Countries,
- late medieval,
- early modern,
University of Antwerp, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-2791-8586
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
Risk-lovers paradise: Lotteries and risk-taking in the Low Countries, 1441-1700
Authors
Jeroen Putttevils
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.29
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk management, insolvency, and bankruptcy in the pre-modern world (13th-18th centuries)
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
568
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0962-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0963-2
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0964-9
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195