Lottery
Buy 10,000 Denarius entries into the daily 20:00 jackpot — a weighted winner takes the pool minus an 8% rake.
The Imperium Lottery is a server-wide Denarius jackpot: players buy entries for a flat fee, every entry sold adds to the prize pool, and at the scheduled draw one weighted-random winner takes the pot (minus a small rake). It is the simplest gambling system in the game and a reliable Denarius sink for the economy. Buy one entry for a flutter or spend up to your per-round cap chasing a life-changing payout - both are valid plays.
How It Works
The lottery draws daily at 20:00 server time (config lottery.draw-hour). The flow is simple:
- The pot opens. A new round begins, and the prize pool starts at zero.
- Players buy entries. Each entry costs a flat 10,000 Denarius (no variable buy-in, no whale discounts - packs are just quantity shortcuts at full price), capped at 10 entries per player per round.
- The draw fires. At 20:00, the lottery picks a winner weighted by entry count (more entries = proportionally higher odds), then draws 2nd and 3rd place without replacement.
- The winner takes the pool minus the rake. An 8% rake comes off the top; 2nd and 3rd place receive Plebeian crate keys, the result is broadcast server-wide, and a new round begins.
Because the draw is weighted by entry count, buying 5 entries gives you 5× the odds of a 1-entry player - but the 10-entry cap keeps any one wallet from dominating. There is no "guaranteed win" threshold; even one entry can take the pot.
Collusion is watched. Two different players entering the same round from the same IP raises an alert for staff review (no automatic punishment).
The Prize Pool
The pool scales with participation - a quiet week might see a 500k Denarius pot, while a festival week with heavy ticket buying can push the pool into the tens of millions. The pool is displayed live (typically via a BossBar or scoreboard) so players can see what they're playing for and decide whether to buy more tickets before the draw.
| Pool Size | What it means |
|---|---|
| Small (<1M) | Quiet week - cheap tickets, modest payout. Fine for a casual flutter. |
| Medium (1-10M) | Healthy interest - worth buying several tickets if you have spare cash. |
| Large (10M+) | Festival or event week - the pot is a life-changing sum; ticket buying gets competitive. |
The Rake & the Festival Fund
The lottery is not zero-sum: 8% of the formed pool is withheld as a rake. Runner-up prizes (the 2nd/3rd-place Plebeian crate keys, with a cash fallback drawn from the rake when the crate service is unavailable) come out of it first, and the remainder is credited to the Festival Fund ledger - recycled as event rewards rather than minted or destroyed. The winner takes the other 92%.
Buying in bulk does not change your per-entry price (fixed 10k, no pack discounts by design) - it only spends your per-round cap faster.
A Reality Check
The lottery is a Denarius sink by design. The expected value of a ticket is always negative once you account for the odds - the pot pays out to one player, but the aggregate ticket cost from all players exceeds the pot (because the prize is a fixed pool, not proportional). Treat it as entertainment, not an investment strategy. Set a Denarius budget for ticket buying and stick to it.
Tips
- Buy in on big pots. The expected value is still negative, but a large pool makes the long-shot math slightly less punishing.
- Use your full cap when you play. Odds are proportional to entries, so a half-hearted single entry is the worst value per decision.
- Don't chase losses. Buying 10 entries because you "almost won" yesterday is the path to a drained balance.
- Watch the live pool. If the pot is small and the draw is soon, save your cash for next round.
- Celebrate the win, expect the loss. A lottery win is a windfall, not a strategy. Plan your economy around mining and trading, and treat any lottery payout as a bonus.