Lottery is a form of gambling where people pay a small sum to be entered into a draw for a larger prize, like money or goods. Federal law defines a lottery as any game where “consideration means payment by the participant, chance means an opportunity to win, and a prize exists.”
While there are many different ways to play a lottery, most of them involve buying tickets for a drawing of numbers. The more numbers you match, the bigger the prize. The odds of winning vary depending on the type of lottery and its rules, but are generally very slim. People of all incomes buy tickets, but lower-income people do so more heavily relative to their incomes.
For decades, state governments have promoted lotteries as a source of “painless” revenue – in other words, a way to raise large amounts of money without burdening the middle and working classes. In the postwar period, this arrangement helped states expand their social safety nets, but it came to a screeching halt in the 1960s as inflation slowed economic growth. By then, the political dynamic was shifting. Voters wanted their states to spend more, and politicians looked at lotteries as a way to do so without having to raise taxes.
The first state-sanctioned lotteries began in the Low Countries in the early 15th century, and were often used to fund town fortifications or to help the poor. They were also popular in colonial era America, with John Hancock running one to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall and George Washington running one to build a road across the Blue Ridge Mountains (that project was a failure).
Today, state lotteries enjoy broad public support. They are legalized in most states, and the proceeds go to a wide range of programs, including education, veterans benefits, and the environment. In fact, most Americans spend $100 billion each year on lottery tickets. But there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
A key reason for the popularity of lotteries is that they dangle the promise of instant riches in an era of widening inequality and limited social mobility. The regressive nature of lottery gambling is obscured by the broader cultural and moral context in which it is practiced.
Moreover, the public is conditioned to think that state government is always in dire fiscal straits, and that lotteries are a necessary counterbalance. However, studies show that the actual fiscal circumstances of a state do not have much influence on whether or when it adopts a lottery. Instead, it seems that lotteries’ widespread acceptance is largely due to their ability to deliver a particular message: “playing the lottery will make you feel good about yourself.” As long as this narrative remains intact, the lottery will continue to thrive. But it’s a narrative that’s increasingly under threat from changes in American culture and politics. And the outcome of that battle will have big implications for how we live our lives.