A lottery is an arrangement by which prizes are allocated to persons in a manner that depends wholly on chance. Lotteries can be state-run, or private, and may involve a fixed number of prizes of different values, or a single prize of a certain value. In either case, the odds of winning a lottery are generally very long. In the United States, all state-run lotteries are regulated by laws passed by legislatures.
Lotteries are popular with people of all ages, income levels, and backgrounds. They can raise significant amounts of money for a wide variety of purposes, including building schools, roads, canals, libraries, and churches. In colonial America, they financed the founding of Princeton and Columbia Universities as well as many other public works projects.
In the modern era of state-sponsored lotteries, the process goes something like this: a state establishes a monopoly for itself (or contracts with a private company in exchange for a share of profits); sets up a lottery division within its executive or legislative branch; begins operations with a modest set of relatively simple games; and, driven by constant pressure to increase revenues, progressively expands the range of available games.
As a result, lottery revenue growth typically starts out very high but eventually flattens and sometimes even declines. Despite this, state governments continue to support the lottery. Some of the reasons why include: the broad appeal of gambling; the fact that most lottery participants do not see themselves as gamblers; and a strong sense of moral obligation to buy a ticket in support of a particular state project.
