At eight o'clock on the evening of November 20, under the witness of reporters from dozens of newspapers and staff from the Berlin Notary Office, the German Welfare Lottery Company drew the winning numbers for the first Double Color Ball lottery.
The six red balls were 02, 09, 14, 17, 18, and 31, while the Blue Ball number was 08.
Karl von Jonath, general manager of the German Welfare Lottery Company, announced publicly that the lottery company's staff would immediately verify all ticket numbers and strive to complete the preliminary checks before tomorrow afternoon. If anyone had won the first prize, the major newspapers would be notified at once.
The entire German lottery industry, and even society as a whole, paid close attention to the Double Color Ball draw. Everyone wanted to know whether there would be a lucky winner of the first prize. A prize of five million Marks would still leave quite a sum even after taxes. That was truly becoming rich overnight!
"Your Highness, we succeeded. According to preliminary figures, more than ten million tickets were sold this time!" Karl said, his face brimming with excitement.
Each ticket cost two Marks, which was already a steep price. Yet there were still no shortage of people who could afford to buy lottery tickets. This meant their lottery would have an enormous market.
"Yes. Once the winning results are compiled, we'll know how much profit we can make." Oscar was equally expectant.
To tally the winning tickets, the German Welfare Lottery Company had specially recruited a professional team of over two hundred statisticians. Although their wages were no small expense, compared to the immense profits they would earn, they were nothing worth mentioning. In an era without computers or networks, everything could only be done by hand. There was no helping it.
"Your Highness, even if there is one first-prize winner, our profits will exceed two million Marks." Karl was full of confidence. He had invested one million Marks in the company. If the profits this time exceeded two million Marks, then according to the profit-sharing agreement, he could receive two hundred thousand Marks. In just five draws, he would recover his entire investment.
Oscar nodded. If they could make two million Marks in profit, he could receive one million himself. That would give him over ten million Marks in earnings each month. Fulfilling his promise to build a battleship for the German Navy would be no problem at all.
"Tell our people to speed up the tallying. Once a major prize winner appears, immediately notify all the newspapers and have them begin the second wave of publicity. We must get more people to buy our lottery tickets!" Oscar said.
Although more than ten million tickets had been sold in the very first draw, he was far from satisfied. Germany's lottery market should have been larger than this. With all the advantages of Double Color Ball, they should be able to expand the market further and earn even greater profits.
Karl nodded. He knew that a lottery like Double Color Ball would have terrifying power to draw in money. Of course, that was not a bad thing for them. Who would complain about making too much money?
Karl then left and personally took charge of the review team as they examined the tickets. They strove to complete the tally in the shortest possible time and calculate the profits.
All prizes for the Double Color Ball sold by Oscar were fixed. The first prize was five million Marks, the second prize one hundred thousand Marks, the third prize three thousand Marks, the fourth prize two hundred Marks, the fifth prize ten Marks, and the sixth prize five Marks.
If, after deducting all costs and prizes, they could retain two million Marks in profit this time, Oscar would already be very satisfied. After all, Double Color Ball had three draws each week. Moreover, their ticket sales had only just begun. Once they got on the right track, more lottery players would certainly buy tickets. Their profits would rise along with them.
Early the next morning, Karl reported the results to Oscar with two dark circles under his eyes.
"Your Highness, the results have been compiled. There is one first-prize winner and eighteen second-prize winners. Including the lower prizes, the total payout is roughly twelve million Marks. After deducting taxes and various costs, our profit is 2.12 million Marks." Karl's face was full of excitement.
"Excellent work! This is absolutely a splendid opening! Immediately send the prize money to those betting outlets so the winning tickets can be redeemed. Also, have the newspapers working with us report this with all their strength," Oscar said excitedly.
"Yes, Your Highness. Sales for our second draw will also begin today. We previously prepared fifteen million tickets. I wonder whether that will be enough."
"It's too late to have the printing plants make more now. But for the next draw, we can prepare twenty million tickets. If sales are good, we'll increase the number further."
As long as sales remained booming, they could expand steadily step by step until the market was completely saturated. That way, their profits could be maximized. The next step would be to consider expanding into other countries.
Düsseldorf. A coal mine had just gotten off work, and large numbers of miners surged out through the factory gates. Their bodies were covered in coal dust, black from head to toe.
Although Germany's industry was highly developed, the lives of workers at the bottom of society were still very difficult.
Hans was one of those coal miners.
"Hans, how about going for a drink tonight?" said a burly miner.
"No. Lina and the children are still waiting for me at home." Hans shook his head.
On his way home, Hans passed a lottery outlet and could not help stopping. He then pulled out a crumpled lottery ticket from his bag.
He had bought it in passing when Double Color Ball first went on sale. Although two Marks was already quite expensive for Hans, he still hoped God would take pity on him.
After hesitating for a moment, Hans walked toward the lottery outlet with the ticket in hand.
At that moment, quite a few people were buying lottery tickets or collecting prizes at the outlet.
"Excuse me, did this ticket win anything?" Hans asked.
The employee there was a young and beautiful woman. When she saw Hans's filthy appearance, she could not help frowning. Yet her professional training still made her accept the ticket with a smile.
When the employee clearly saw the numbers on the ticket, her eyes immediately widened.
"God! Headquarters was right. The grand prize really was sold at our outlet."
"Sir, congratulations. You won the first prize in the previous Double Color Ball draw. You will receive a pre-tax prize of five million Marks," the employee said excitedly, as though she herself had won the grand prize.
"What? He won the first prize?"
"God! What incredible luck!"
The entire lottery outlet erupted.
Before you continue