Lottery is an arrangement in which tickets are sold for a chance to win prizes ranging from cash and goods to services such as health care and housing. Generally, only those with sufficient income and credit history can buy tickets. Ticket purchases are considered gambling in many jurisdictions. In the US, lottery revenues are typically used for a broad array of state public purposes including education and road maintenance. State governments have a long tradition of conducting lotteries, and they are the largest source of non-regressive revenue in the country.

Making decisions and determining fates by the casting of lots has a long record in human history, and is often associated with divination. In the 16th century, several towns in the Low Countries held public lotteries to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor. The first recorded lottery to distribute prize money was held in 1466 in Bruges, Belgium.

The lottery has become one of the most popular forms of gambling in the world. In the United States alone, people spent upward of $100 billion on lottery games in 2021, rendering it the most popular form of legal gambling in the country. Lotteries are heavily promoted as ways for states to collect revenue without overtaxing middle and working class residents. But how meaningful is the revenue they raise in the context of overall state budgets? And is it worth the cost to people who lose a lot of money?

In addition to the general public, lotteries have developed extensive specific constituencies, such as convenience store operators (the usual lottery vendors), suppliers (heavy contributions by suppliers to state political campaigns are regularly reported), teachers (in those states in which the proceeds of lotteries are earmarked for education), and state legislators (who quickly become accustomed to the extra revenue).

When a lottery is introduced, ticket sales typically surge dramatically at the beginning. This is because the prizes are usually very large, but also because of the psychological factor known as “hot streaks.” People who have won in the past are likely to play again and increase their wagers. The odds of winning are very low, but when the winner is a high-profile person the publicity tends to generate even more interest.

Over time, ticket sales tend to level off and eventually decline. To maintain their popularity, state lotteries introduce new games to attract attention and increase player participation. Those who do continue to play often report that they do so because of the entertainment value, or because they believe it is their civic duty to support the state. But these are flawed messages. They obscure how much people are losing in the process and hide how regressive lottery revenues are. They also obscure how much money lottery players are spending on their tickets and how little they get in return for their investment. And most importantly, they obscure how many people are playing. For those reasons, lottery advertising is misleading and should be banned.