A lottery is a type of gambling in which participants pay money for the chance to win a prize, often large sums of cash. Lotteries are sometimes run by government agencies in order to raise funds for public projects or programs. They are also used to allocate spaces in public buildings, such as schools and subsidized housing blocks. Some states allow players to choose their own numbers, while others use computers to randomly select winners. While lottery games are often criticized for being addictive forms of gambling, they can also provide useful funding to public projects.

The word “lottery” comes from the Dutch noun lot, which means “fate.” The casting of lots for decisions and fates has a long history in human society (including several instances cited in the Bible), but the drawing of tickets with prizes for money is relatively recent. The first public lotteries appear in records from the Low Countries during the 15th century, raising money for a variety of uses including town fortifications and helping the poor.

State lotteries are a popular source of revenue and have broad public support. They are a painless form of taxation because they encourage people to voluntarily spend their money, rather than forcing them to do so through taxes. Lotteries also develop extensive specific constituencies, including convenience store operators (the usual vendors for the games); suppliers of the prizes (who frequently make heavy contributions to state political campaigns); teachers (in states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education); and even politicians, who get accustomed to relying on the income from these taxes to fund public spending priorities.