NAPLES AND ITS LOTTERY.

Northland Age, Volume VIII, Issue 10, 27 October 1911, Page 8

NAPLES AND ITS LOTTERY.

1 (From “Harper’s Magazine.”) King Humbert the First made the rules for the public lottery of Italy. I—The public lottery is temporarily maintained by the favour of the State under the following laws : 2, —It is administered by the Minister of Finance, under whom the chiefs are chosen for their respective functions.

3.—The Lotto is formed by ninety, numbered 1 to 90 inclusive, five of whirh drawn by chance determine the successful.

j 4.—One can “play thy Lotto” in the following manner : [ On one number (very rarely played) On all five numbers (very rarely played.) j On two numbers—the “ambo.” i On three numbers—which is known las the “terno." ! On four numbers—which is known j as the “quaterno.” s.—When one number is played, the | winner is paid ten times aud a half his output ; when two numbers are i played the winner is paid 350 times his output, when three numbers are played the winner is paid 5,250 times his output; when four numbers are played the winner is paid 60,000 times his output. Therefore, if one has by any chance bought a number one ticket and wins the four numbers (quaterno), he wins £12,000. At five o'clock on every Saturday afternoon throughout all Italy the drawing of the Lotto takes place. The ceremony is held at the end of a foul, filthy alley known as the ‘lmpresa,’ back in a great courtyard in full view of the people on the balcony of an old palace. From early in the afternoon until the fatal hour the streets of Santa Chiara and the alley fill up with the crowd whose hope on this day is to be deceived. The streets are always so full of life that for this extra crowd, jostling, pushing, and eager, there would seem to he no place. It is comprised of the very poor. The better classes watch for the telephone or the showing of the numbers in the various banks of the city to discover their fate, but in the Impresa the crowd of people Is as dense as a shadow. There are many here who have paid their last cent for a ticket. . . .

There are many here who are in debt for the shoes they wear, and will never be able to pay for them. But at the stroke of the church clock the blinds of the balcony open, and the paraphernalia of the Lotto i are brought out. A long green table ! on which is placed a crystal ball bound with silver, and an iron box containing ninety other little boxes, iin which the ninety numbers are j locked by the State. The officers of ' this performance are coolly indifferent and the only figure deserving of note is that of the orphan child, dressed in snowy white, chosen by law from the orphan asylum to draw from the crystal ball the five magic numbers. At the sight of these familiar, look-ed-for objects the crowd begin to cry 1 and chant, to beseech and evoke. They beg the little orphan child to draw well. They bless him. They : call him “little Jesus” and “little saint.” And the child, in his white robe, his innocent eyes on the mass. One by one the balls are taken out from their sealed boxes, displayed to the people, and dropped into the big bowl. When they have all been shaken about and No. 90 has fallen in the enthusiasm breaks forth, and the popular signification of the differ- ! ent numbers is cried out. No. 71 means the sea, 82 the passion of Christ. These are forbunate numbers. They have blindfolded the little bambino, and he stands on a chair, for he is only eight years of age, and is small, to full sight of the people. The balls having been shaken around for the last time, the child puts his hand in and draws. The first number that he calls out is called forth—“ No. 5.” Now, every Itali-, an who has bought No. 5 for place has either won or lost. No one holds this number In this crowd, however, and there is a murmur and a fresh adjuration for the child to draw well. The people who have drawn for the terno and the quaterno still have their chance. The child draws again. This time No. 47, and the holders of the terno are now the interested ones, for the next will be their last chance. The enthusiasm breaks forth again with murmurs and cries and prayers, and the quiet little child before the urn In his white I dress hears them, trembles, for he knows that he is menaced'. Before j the people there is a blackboard, and a man posts up the numbers as they j are drawn—s, 47, 11, 10, and 80. j And this series of five is discussed, yelled at, challenged, cursed, for not one In the crowd has drawn a fortunate number. The child’s eyes are unbound, and he is put down and set free. The halls are returned Into their boxes, sealed up, and carried away under the eyes of the crowd, which, after waiting for a moment, unable to believe its 111 fortune, breaks up and disrupts. Apathy is thrown upon the majority as much as such a Btate of mind 1b possible to a Neapolitan mass, as they begin in gror- - to discuss the failure of their schemes and their combinations.