The lottery is a gambling game where the winner is chosen by drawing lots to determine the prize. It is a popular form of fundraising for public and private purposes, and it is often legalized and regulated by state governments to ensure fairness and compliance with law. The word comes from the act of casting lots, originally for decision-making or divination and later for allocating resources, such as property or land: “the king used the lottery to distribute lands to his subjects.”

Lottery revenues typically expand rapidly after launch, but then level off or even decline. To maintain or increase revenues, the industry introduces new games, ranging from traditional raffles to instant games such as scratch-off tickets. In fact, the growth of this type of game has been the driving force behind the overall expansion of the lottery industry.

Americans spend over $80 billion on lotteries each year – that is about $600 per household. And many of those people who play the lottery are doing so on a regular basis, spending $50 or $100 a week on tickets. This defies the expectations that one might have going into a conversation with someone who is playing a lotto regularly – it feels like they should be smarter than this and know better than to spend money on something so irrational.

Lottery commissions rely on two messages to justify their products. They promote the specific public benefits that their revenues help fund and they also suggest that lottery players are doing their civic duty by supporting their local government. But both of those messages mask the regressivity of lottery gambling, which disproportionately affects lower-income groups.