A competition in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes (normally money) awarded to the holders of numbers drawn at random. Lotteries are largely government monopolies; the profits are used to fund various public programs.
The earliest lotteries appeared in the Low Countries in the 15th century, when towns held them to raise money for town fortifications and to help the poor. In modern times, states have established and run a wide variety of state-sponsored lottery games.
Most lotteries involve a fixed amount of money that is pooled for drawing winning numbers and/or combinations, with the costs of organization and promotion deducted from the total pool. The remainder is divided among the winners and, in some cases, sponsors. The majority of ticket sales and prizes are distributed to those in the middle of the income distribution, while few or no prizes are available for those at the bottom of the scale.
One of the primary messages that lottery officials promote is that the proceeds benefit a specific public good, usually education. This message is especially appealing in times of economic stress, when the argument is made that lottery proceeds offer “painless” revenues for state governments without the unpleasant political consequences of raising taxes or cutting other public expenditures.
But research shows that the popularity of a lottery is not linked to the objective fiscal situation of its sponsoring state. The fact is that many politicians find it hard to resist the lure of lottery revenue, no matter how bad the state’s financial condition.