a gambling game or method of raising money for public charitable purposes in which tickets are sold and prizes awarded by chance. The word lottery is derived from the Latin Lottera, meaning “fateful drawing.” The practice of using lotteries to determine property distribution dates back centuries. Moses was instructed by the Old Testament to conduct a census and distribute land among the people of Israel by lot; and Roman emperors used lotteries as entertainment at Saturnalian feasts and to give away slaves.
During the 1740s and 1750s, lotteries helped finance many public projects in colonial America, including roads, canals, churches, colleges, and schools. Lotteries also played a significant role in the financing of military campaigns, especially the 1758 expedition against Canada.
In recent decades, the number of state lotteries has grown significantly, reflecting increased popular interest in gambling and the growth of state advertising budgets. However, the basic function of lotteries remains unchanged: generating a large pool of revenue that is distributed to winners as prizes. In addition, many lotteries promote gambling as fun and a great social experience. This message obscures the regressivity of gambling and its serious consequences for poor people and problem gamblers. Moreover, it puts state governments at cross-purposes with the broader public interest.
Since 1964, when New Hampshire established its state lottery, many other states have followed suit. Each state adopts a legal monopoly on the lottery; establishes a state agency or corporation to run it (rather than licensing a private firm in exchange for a portion of profits); begins operations with a modest number of relatively simple games; and, under pressure to boost revenues, progressively expands the lottery by adding more and more complex games.
Lottery advocates argue that it is a good source of revenue for state government, and it appeals to voters and politicians who are wary of tax increases or reductions in spending on essential public services. However, research shows that the objective fiscal conditions of a state do not appear to have much influence on whether or when a state adopts a lottery. Furthermore, once a lottery is in place, it tends to retain broad popular support, regardless of the state’s actual fiscal condition.
A major flaw in this argument is that the popularity of the lottery has little to do with its ability to generate substantial revenue and little to do with the public’s appetite for gambling. The reason is that most people play the lottery for the money prizes, not because they support public services. In fact, the average lottery player contributes billions in receipts to government coffers that they could have saved for retirement or college tuition, if they had invested that same amount of money in the stock market or other investments. Moreover, people who buy lottery tickets spend millions of dollars on products and services that have little or no relation to the lottery. In short, the lottery is a classic case of government at all levels becoming dependent on “painless” revenues and then finding itself unable to control those revenues or limit their expansion.
