The lottery is a form of gambling in which the prize for a game is money, goods, or services. Making decisions by lot has a long history (including several instances in the Bible) but using it to raise money is more recent. The first recorded public lottery to offer tickets with prize money was held in the Low Countries in the 15th century for town repairs and to help the poor. In colonial-era America, lotteries were used for paving streets, building wharves, and financing colleges including Harvard and Yale. Benjamin Franklin sponsored a lottery to raise funds for cannons to defend Philadelphia against the British and Thomas Jefferson once sponsored a private lottery in an attempt to alleviate his crushing debts.

When a state decides to establish a lottery, it legislates a monopoly for itself; typically entrusts its operation to a government agency or public corporation in exchange for a share of profits; starts with a modest number of relatively simple games; and, under pressure for additional revenues, progressively expands its operations by adding new games. The result is that most state lotteries are now a complex collection of multiple games offering many different ways to play with a variety of prizes and odds.

Lottery advertising focuses on persuading people to spend their money on the chance of winning big. This marketing strategy has been criticized for its potential to foster problems such as gambling addiction, poverty among the lottery’s target groups, and the promotion of harmful habits like drinking and driving. It has also been questioned whether it is appropriate for state governments to run such enterprises at cross-purposes with the larger public interest.

Although there is an inextricable human urge to gamble, lotteries promote much more than the mere thrill of winning a big prize. They also dangle the promise of instant riches, which is an especially attractive lure in an age of growing income inequality and limited social mobility. Moreover, they develop extensive specific constituencies such as convenience store operators (who are the primary vendors for tickets); suppliers of goods and services for the lottery (heavy contributions to state political campaigns by these providers are often reported); teachers in states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education; and state legislators (who quickly become accustomed to the extra revenue).

Lotteries enjoy broad popular support because they are sold as a way to provide a particular public good such as education. But studies show that this popularity is not tied to the actual fiscal health of the state and that a lottery’s reputation for providing funding for a given purpose is often undermined when lawmakers reduce appropriations to that program from the general fund. Ultimately, the message that state lotteries are selling is that even when you lose, you can feel good about having done your civic duty to support the lottery and thus the children of your state. This is a dangerously false message. The truth is that the money state lotteries raise for the children of their citizens is a pittance compared to what they cost in terms of government deficits and debt.