Lottery is a process by which a random selection is made, usually for a prize such as money or goods. It is also used to make decisions in situations where there are limited resources, such as filling a vacancy in a sports team among equally competing players or placing a student in a school. The resulting decision is often more objective than a subjective one.
The odds of winning a lottery are very low, but it is a popular activity nonetheless. The first lotteries to offer tickets with prizes in the form of cash were held in the fifteenth century in the Low Countries to raise funds for town fortifications and charity for the poor. By the eighteenth century, these were a common feature of colonial life.
In America, the lottery became a staple of state government finance in the late twentieth century. It was a way for states to raise money without raising taxes, and it seemed especially appealing in the face of Protestant proscriptions against gambling and the national movement toward fiscal conservatism.
Cohen writes that the message state lotteries push is that even if you don’t win, you’re doing your civic duty to support education or children by buying a ticket. This reframes gambling as something that benefits the state and obscures its regressive impact on ordinary people.
In addition to reshaping gambling’s public image, lottery jackpots have become increasingly newsworthy. This is because bigger jackpots are more likely to generate a huge media splash, driving ticket sales and boosting publicity for the game.