A lottery is a game of chance in which people buy numbered tickets and prizes are given to those whose numbers are drawn at random. Lotteries are often sponsored by state governments or other organizations as a way to raise money for a specific project or charity. In the United States, there are forty-five states and Washington, DC that run lotteries. Unlike private commercial lotteries, the profits from state lotteries are used solely to fund government programs. As of August 2004, about 90% of the country’s adults lived in a state that had a lottery.
The word lottery derives from the Dutch noun lotte, meaning “fate.” It is a game in which the distribution of something, especially a prize, is determined by fate or chance, rather than by human selection or effort. Early colonists used lotteries to finance a variety of projects, including building the Mountain Road in Virginia and paying for cannons for the Revolutionary War. The lottery became particularly popular in the immediate postwar period as it allowed states to expand their social safety nets without increasing taxes on middle and working classes.
By the 1970s, twelve states had started lotteries—Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Several other states introduced lotteries in the 1980s, and by the 1990s Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee had joined the club. Many of these states are located in the Northeast, where the desire to raise funds for public projects was strong.
These lotteries, which are legalized forms of gambling, generate millions of dollars in annual revenues for the states that sponsor them. But the percentage of the overall state budget that lotteries provide is relatively small, about 1%. As a result, they have come under attack from those who believe they are a hidden tax.
Despite the fact that people are willing to spend large sums of money on the hope of winning big, most people who play lotteries do not win the jackpot. In a typical drawing, only about 10% of all ticket holders pick the six winning numbers, and most people do not win even the smaller prizes such as free tickets or dinner for two. Nevertheless, the majority of players are not discouraged and continue to purchase tickets.
I have talked to many lottery players who tell me that they spend $50 or $100 a week on their tickets. I am always struck by how they defy the stereotype that they are irrational, stupid people who have been duped by the scam. Most of these players are middle-aged and married, with high school degrees, who work full time. Some of them are also philanthropists who give away much of the money that they have won. These are people who, I would argue, deserve a fair shake in the discussion of the role that the lottery should play in our society.