Famously, something akin to this was done by Voltaire in 1729 (including the crowdsourcing). See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=BBusxgu8-AAC&amp;lpg=PA259&amp;vq=lottery&amp;pg=PA260#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=BBusxgu8-AAC&amp;lpg=PA259&amp;vq=...</a>