What is a Lottery?
A lottery is a random draw that results in a winner or small group of winners. It’s often run when demand is high for something that is limited, such as units in a subsidized housing block or kindergarten placements at a reputable public school. Financial lotteries, such as those that dish out big cash prizes to paying participants, are also popular. Although criticized as an addictive form of gambling, the money raised by some of these lotteries is used for good causes in the public sector.
I’ve talked to a lot of people who play the lottery, a lot of them for years, spending $50 or $100 a week. These are people who defy expectations going into the conversation: that they’re irrational, that they’ve been duped by the odds, and that you, as someone who doesn’t buy a ticket, are smarter than them because you understand how bad the odds are.
The word lottery comes from the Dutch word for “fate,” or “lot,” and the first recorded state-sponsored lotteries took place in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise money for town fortifications and to help the poor. The oldest lottery still running is the Staatsloterij of the Netherlands, established in 1726.
State governments and licensed promoters have relied on lotteries to provide all or part of the funds for a wide range of public usages, including the building of the British Museum, bridges, and many projects in the American colonies. Lotteries were a favorite way of raising funds in the immediate post-World War II period, when states could expand their social safety nets without having to increase taxes on their working class and middle classes.