Over the past few years lotteries have gradually become increasingly popular throughout New Eden. Recently, however, the industry has exploded with an estimated 50,000 pilots partaking in lotteries such as SOMERblink, Ships of EVE, and BIG Lottery. Almost every lottery has its own set of rules and characteristics; pilots should familiarise themselves with how a particular lottery works before gambling.
Some of the first lotteries to dot New Eden began on the CONCORD pilot messaging boards. Ships of EVE was one of such lotteries, with prizes ranging from a single faction battleship to portfolios of hundreds of ships. Many similar lotteries, often run by individual pilots, still dot the messaging boards to this day.
BIG Lottery, another "traditional" lottery, operates almost identically. Pilots can buy tickets for 1 thousand ISK, which are then entered into weekly drawing for prizes of up to 5 million ISK.
SOMERblink, on the other hand, operates quite differently. Pilots deposit ISK into an account, which can then be used to buy tickets for "blinks." These are small drawings involving as few as 8 players that may only last for a few minutes. For pilots who still like the idea of larger prizes, there are "gigablinks" which are larger drawings involving many more pilots and offer prizes such as capital ships and titan skill books.
While many pilots are drawn to the lotteries for the prizes, some simply do it for sport. One such pilot, Kaldor Mentat, remarked that it is just about taking part for him: It does not really matter that much if I win or lose, although winning something is of course always nice. "He also offered advice to players looking to roll the dice for the first time: "Never wager what you cannot afford to lose."
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