 After Fielding returned to working with the Royal Theatre , Drury Lane , he wrote The Lottery , which first ran on 1 January 1732 alongside Addison 's Cato . The play was successful and was performed 15 times during January . He altered the play in February , and the revised form ran for 14 more nights during that season and was put on each year until 1740 and occasionally thereafter until 1783 . The story deals with Chloe 's desire to play the lottery and pokes fun at the London lottery system and those who support it . 
