Lottery is a form of gambling in which people pay for tickets with different numbers on them, and the winning combinations are chosen by chance. The prize money is usually cash or goods. The lottery is generally popular because it offers prizes to people who do not have to work for them, but there are also concerns about its impact on the poor and compulsive gamblers.
Lotteries are a classic example of state government policies evolving piecemeal, with little or no overall public policy oversight. Politicians who favor lotteries tend to think of them as a source of “painless” revenue, and they argue that people will always gamble, so the state might as well capture some of it. The reality is that the proceeds are hardly painless: They are a form of taxation, and they raise large sums of money from people who might otherwise not spend it.
In the early days of the American colonies, lotteries were used to raise money for everything from paving streets to constructing wharves. Benjamin Franklin, for instance, sponsored a lottery to finance cannons for the defense of Philadelphia. But the overall pattern seems to be that, once a state adopts a lottery, its popularity does not depend on the objective fiscal situation of the state, and politicians become dependent on these funds. Moreover, because lotteries are run as businesses with the goal of maximizing revenues, their advertising necessarily emphasizes the chances of winning big.