A lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers or symbols are drawn at random to determine the winners. Lottery games are generally regulated by governments and are intended to raise money for public benefit purposes such as education, health, social welfare, and infrastructure.
Drawing numbers and determining fates through the casting of lots has a long history in human civilization, but using lotteries for material gain is more recent. The first recorded public lotteries to award prizes in the form of money were held in the Low Countries during the 15th century, when they were used to finance town fortifications and poor relief. During the colonial era in America, lotteries were used to fund private and public projects including churches, roads, canals, bridges, colleges, libraries, and schools.
Despite the wide popularity of lotteries, critics claim that they have many negative effects. They are alleged to promote addictive gambling behavior, raise uncontrolled public spending, and impose a significant regressive tax on lower-income groups. They also pose a conflict between state desires to increase revenues and the public interest in protecting citizens from gambling abuses.
Since New Hampshire launched the modern era of state lotteries in 1964, virtually every state has adopted one. In general, the state legislates a monopoly for itself; establishes a state agency or public corporation to run it; begins operations with a modest number of relatively simple games; and then progressively expands its offerings with new games in order to sustain growing revenues.