A lottery is a game in which bettors pay an entry fee to have the chance to win a prize, if they are selected. The winner is determined by drawing lots. The prize can be anything from cash to goods or services. The game is a form of gambling, but differs from other forms because it relies on luck rather than skill. Generally, a lottery is regulated by law.
The first lotteries were probably organized in the Low Countries in the fifteenth century, when local towns raised money to build town fortifications and to help the poor. The name “lottery” probably comes from Middle Dutch loterie, a calque on Middle French loterie, which refers to the action of drawing lots. By the seventeenth century, states were taking control of lotteries. They began to authorize games to raise money for particular institutions and to finance wars and other government priorities. The games became more complex, with varying amounts of prizes and various rules. But the basic elements remained the same: bettors paid an entry fee to participate and they were required to select numbers or other symbols. In the modern era, most lotteries involve computerized systems that record the identities and stakes of bettors.
As a result of these innovations, some people began to focus on the lottery as an entrée into wealth. This obsession correlated with a decline in financial security for most working people, as health-care costs and unemployment rose, and the long-held national promise that hard work and education would allow children to do better than their parents ceased to be true for many families.
In the nineteen-seventies and eighties, lottery jackpots grew larger and the number of multimillionaires increased rapidly. But this prosperity, as a recent article in The Huffington Post points out, is not available to the majority of Americans, who must scrimp and save to pay for their daily living expenses. Those with money to spend on the lottery can buy more tickets, and thus increase their chances of winning. But those who must eke out a living by working in low-paying jobs and caring for young children can only afford a few tickets, or none at all.
To make matters worse, lottery advertising targets neighborhoods that are disproportionately poor and black. The ads encourage spending on the lottery, and exacerbate the growing divide between rich and poor. As a result, the argument for legalization of the lottery lost credibility in statehouses across America. Defenders shifted their strategy, no longer claiming that it would float a state’s budget but instead arguing that it could cover a specific line item—usually education, but also elder care, public parks, and aid to veterans. This narrower argument proved more effective, especially when states were struggling to placate an antitax electorate.
