A lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers are drawn to determine the winners of prizes. Lotteries are regulated by state governments, which create the game’s rules, select and train retailers and employees to sell tickets, and oversee the distribution of prizes. In addition to state-sponsored lotteries, private lotteries are offered in many countries and provide a variety of games, including bingo, keno, and pulltabs.
State lotteries have historically been based on traditional raffles, where the public buys tickets in advance of a drawing for a prize. In some cases, the proceeds from the ticket sales are used for a specific public purpose, such as the construction of town fortifications or to help the poor.
Lotteries enjoy broad public support, even when states are experiencing fiscal stress. This is partly because state lotteries promote themselves as a way to raise money for a specific public good, such as education, and thus gain public approval by implying that buying a ticket is a “civic duty.”
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the United States’ banking and taxation systems were still developing, lotteries served an important role in financing projects like roads and jails, and provided capital for hundreds of schools and colleges. Famous American leaders like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin used lotteries to pay off debts and purchase cannons for Philadelphia. By the mid-nineteenth century, lotteries were so widespread that Congress authorized their operation in 1812. Lottery revenues have since surpassed those from taxes.