Voltaire, Amazing Philosopher and Lottery Scammer
Not many know that Voltaire, despite being a renowned philosopher was also a notorious lottery scammer.
Voltaire Was a Complex Character
The French philosopher and writer Voltaire was a complex character in many ways.
· He was the charismatic and rebellious youngest son of an upper-middle-class French family.
· He was imprisoned in the Bastille.
· Many of his most famous works were banned
· He was also a spy for the French government
· And the biggest, he was a notorious lottery scammer.
Yes, Voltaire was a lottery scammer. Not many know that Voltaire was a pragmatist at heart. In his “Memories (1759)”, Voltaire talks about how in his youth he had come across so many writers who were “penniless and held in contempt” that “he had long since decided not to add to their number.”
He knew the importance of money and had long decided never to pursue or court the “good favor of princes and kings” to keep his literary career afloat. Instead, he would be rich, such that he could boldly write whatever he wished without worrying too much about money, public opinion, or the ire of the elite.
And this pursuit for quick money was what made him a lottery scammer. In 1729, Voltaire and a mathematician pal figured out a way to rig the lottery -- to the tune of 7.5 million francs, a haul worth tens of millions of dollars in today’s currency.
And he did so by exploiting a fatal flaw in the French government's lottery system. The means were unscrupulous, no doubt but still technically within law. As Andy Williamson, a Voltaire historian, writes about it.
"Unfortunately for the government, the mathematics behind this new government fundraising scheme was vastly flawed, and Voltaire miked it to the full."
The French Government Lottery System
In the early part of the eighteenth century, the French government issued bonds to help raise money. But with the decline of the French economy in the 1720s, they were forced to cut the interest rates on the bonds, drastically diminishing the market value of said bonds. As a result, nobody bought the bonds, and the government was cash-strapped for money.
At this point, the French deputy finance minister Michel Robert Le Pelletier-Desforts, came up with a brilliant idea to sell the bonds and increase their value. His idea was to allow bond owners to buy a lottery ticket linked to the value of their bonds. The winner would get the face value of their bond plus a “jackpot” of 500,000 Livres (about $6.2 million in today's currency).
The idea worked, and a lottery craze hit France with everybody vying for the “jackpot.” However, the mathematics behind this new government fundraising scheme was fundamentally flawed, and it all boiled down to numbers.
And Voltaire found his mathematician pal in Charles-Marie de La Condamine, whom he met at a casual dinner. During that point, Charles confided to Voltaire a fatal flaw in the French government lottery system.
How Voltaire Rigged the Lottery
Charles-Marie de La Condamine discovered that if somebody can buy a certain percentage of the bonds, even in small value, there was a reasonable chance that he would win the jackpot while spending significantly less than the value of the jackpot.
The more bonds bought, the more the probability of winning. Simple as that. But for this scheme to work, Charles-Marie de La Condamine needed investors. That is where Voltaire came in. While Voltaire was not rich but he was famous and charismatic, and well-connected to woo investors.
Ultimately the pair created a syndicate with enough investors to buy a good percentage of the government bonds. Every time somebody from the syndicate wins the lottery, the amount would be appropriately divided between all the investors. In total, they ran the scheme for less than two years. Voltaire and de la Condamine became ridiculously wealthy and could pursue their other interests without depending on anybody.
The government eventually found that the “same” group was winning the lottery every time. They took Voltaire's syndicate to court, but as the group had done nothing illegal, they were allowed to keep the prize money. However, the syndicate collapsed soon after, and the government scrapped the beleaguered lottery system.
Voltaire Becomes Rich and Famous
As for Voltaire, he used his lottery winnings to invest in various business opportunities, including becoming a very successful watchmaker in his later years. Soon he was able to double and triple his earnings through insightful investments and went from being reasonably wealthy to one of the filthy rich individuals across the country.
In the end, it was money that made Voltaire one of the greatest thinkers and influencers of the world. His book “Candide” is one of the most studied books in all French literature, and his writing was undoubtedly fearless and had that famous “Voltairic” satiric punch all over them.
Would Voltaire have reached such dizzying heights had he been poor and forced to dance to the whims and fancies of the elite and the loaded? I do not think so.
Sources
· Voltaire: Enlightenment Philosopher and Lottery Scammer
· How Voltaire Made a Killing in the Lottery
· Voltaire: A Life from Beginning to End-Hourly History
· Memoirs of the Life of Voltaire-Voltaire
· How Did Voltaire Ensure a Win in the Paris Lottery?
· Candide - Voltaire
I didn’t know that!