Lottery is a gambling game in which players select numbers and are awarded prizes based on how many of the chosen numbers match a second set selected by a random drawing. The prize amount can range from a small amount to a huge sum of money. While the casting of lots to make decisions and determine fates has a long record in human history, lotteries in which players choose their own numbers are fairly recent developments.
State governments established lotteries largely out of a desire to raise funds for public projects without raising taxes. They created a state agency or public corporation to run the lottery; granted it a monopoly that forbids other commercial lotteries to operate in its territory; began operations with a small number of relatively simple games; and, under pressure to continue growing revenues, progressively expanded the offering of new games.
The result has been a remarkable success story. State lottery revenues grew rapidly after their introduction, and, for a time, continued to grow dramatically even as states faced fiscal challenges. These growth rates have waned in the past few years, but the lottery continues to attract widespread popular support.
Despite its popularity, critics are concerned that state lotteries are not appropriate forms of government activity. They argue that they promote gambling, which may have negative consequences for the poor and problem gamblers. In addition, they contend that lottery revenues are a distortion of state finance because they draw dollars away from other government spending programs.