In a lottery, players pay for tickets that contain numbers in a range of possibilities; machines randomly spit out winning numbers; and people who get all or the most of their number combinations win. The game has been a staple of public life since ancient times, from distributing property in the Bible to giving away slaves at Saturnalian feasts. Today, state lotteries offer a variety of games with prizes ranging from cash to sports tickets. They are often promoted as a source of “painless” revenue, meaning that state governments can expand their services without raising taxes.
The popularity of lotteries in the 1980s may be attributed to widening economic inequality and newfound materialism, which asserted that anyone could become wealthy with enough luck or effort. Popular antitax movements also encouraged legislators to find alternative sources of revenue, and lotteries seemed like the perfect solution.
When state lawmakers promote lotteries, they generally make two major points: First, they emphasize that the money raised by the lottery will benefit a particular public good, such as education. This argument is especially effective during economic stress, when the public worries about tax increases or cuts to social programs. Second, they promise that the money raised by the lottery will not be used for gambling or other prohibited activities.
In practice, state lotteries tend to follow a predictable pattern: They legislate a government monopoly; establish a public agency to operate the lottery (as opposed to licensing a private firm in return for a percentage of profits); begin operations with a modest number of relatively simple games; and then, under constant pressure for additional revenues, progressively add more complex offerings. As a result, many state lotteries have become more like gaming companies than traditional government agencies.
