A lottery is a game in which numbers are drawn to win prizes. Prizes can range from cash to goods and services, or even real estate. The first recorded lotteries took place in the Low Countries in the 15th century, raising money for town fortifications and the poor. People have long loved to gamble and to dream of winning big. That’s why it’s no surprise that a lot of Americans buy tickets—more than 50 percent, according to one estimate. But the actual distribution of players is a little more uneven: It’s disproportionately lower-income, less educated, and nonwhite. These players have irrational gambling behaviors. They believe that, for better or worse, a lotto ticket is their last, best, or only chance of getting ahead.
The ugly underbelly of this is that lotteries are often used to raise money for things that have nothing to do with the lottery itself. Benjamin Franklin, for example, held a lottery to help finance his unsuccessful effort to fund cannons for the defense of Philadelphia during the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson, meanwhile, obtained permission from the Virginia legislature to hold a private lottery to alleviate his crushing debts.