Lucky Man in Massachusetts? This New Englander posed for a formal portrait around 1790, proudly holding a lottery ticket. Has this man just won the lottery, or is he merely hopeful? State taxes and confederation requisitions often proved hard to collect in the 1780s. Lotteries became a common way to raise supplementary state financing for schools and public works in the earliest years of the Republic. American, Man Holding a (Massachusetts) Lottery Ticket, ca 1790. Oil on canvas, 29 5/8 x 24 5/8 in. (75.25 x 62.55cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection, Purchase L1964.1. Photographer credit: Larry Sanders. Lottery ticket: © Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, USA / The Bridgeman Art Library.