A competition based on chance in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes are given to those whose numbers are drawn at random: often sponsored by states or organizations as a means of raising funds. The term is also used as a noun to refer to the game of lottery itself or to the act of playing or buying tickets.
The idea of a sudden windfall is appealing, and there’s an inextricable human impulse to gamble. But there’s more to it than that: Lotteries dangle the promise of instant riches in an era of inequality and limited social mobility. It’s little wonder that 50 percent of Americans play the lottery at least once a year. And the moneymakers are a small group of players: disproportionately lower-income, less educated, nonwhite, and male.
When a jackpot hits big, ticket sales shoot up. And it’s the large prize amounts that attract the most attention – and sometimes controversy. Abraham Shakespeare, for example, committed suicide after winning $31 million, and Jeffrey Dampier was kidnapped and shot after pocketing $20 million.
Lotteries have a long history, but they didn’t become popular until the early 19th century, when the Continental Congress began using them to raise money for the colonies. By then, they’d earned a reputation as “painless” taxation: citizens voluntarily spent their money for the state, while politicians looked at them as a way to get tax revenue for free.