The lottery is a form of gambling in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes awarded to those whose numbers are drawn at random. Some governments outlaw the practice, while others endorse it and organize state or national lotteries. In some cases, the proceeds from lotteries are used for public or private purposes. In the US, the lottery is the largest source of recreational gambling.
The first recorded lotteries were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, but they may go back much further. In any case, lottery games were commonplace in the Roman Empire (Nero was a fan) and are attested to in the Bible, where the casting of lots is described for everything from selecting kings to keeping Jesus’s garments after his crucifixion.
Early lotteries were organized for a wide variety of reasons, including building public buildings, supporting the poor, and even funding wars. Benjamin Franklin, for example, sponsored several lotteries to raise money to purchase cannons to defend Philadelphia during the American Revolution. George Washington himself ran a lottery to pay off his debts, and rare lottery tickets bearing his signature sell for thousands of dollars.
In the modern era, lottery advocates have sought to frame the issue in terms of painless revenue rather than gambling. Lottery funds, they argue, float the state budget without requiring tax increases or budget cuts that would anger an increasingly anti-tax electorate. And, they add, lottery proceeds can be earmarked for specific items, such as education, that appeal to both partisans and independents alike.
While the argument has considerable merit, it ignores two important factors. The first is that, for most people, winning the lottery is more about the dream of becoming wealthy than about making ends meet. A big prize, even if it’s just a few hundred thousand dollars, can dramatically alter one’s sense of what’s possible, and that, in turn, has a direct impact on how much money they’re willing to spend on tickets.
The second factor is that, despite what many people believe, the lottery isn’t really “fair.” As Vox recently reported, studies have shown that richer people tend to buy more tickets and play them more frequently—and win more often—than do lower-income people. And while it is true that lottery revenues swell the coffers of states, those funds come from somewhere—and, study after study has found, from neighborhoods with more low-income residents and minorities.
For these reasons, legalization advocates have begun to shift tactics. Instead of arguing that the lottery will float most of a state’s budget, they now focus on a single line item that’s popular and nonpartisan—usually education, but sometimes elder care or parks or veterans’ benefits. This approach has helped to narrow the debate over whether or not to legalize the lottery. But it doesn’t change the fact that a vote for the lottery is still a vote to fund gambling. And that’s a problem.
