Official lottery is a form of gambling in which people buy tickets for a chance to win a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries while others endorse them to some extent, organizing state or national lotteries and regulating how they operate. Lottery winners must be at least 18 years old and may be required to pay taxes on their winnings. They are also generally prohibited from selling tickets to minors or engaging in other illegal activities related to the lottery.

Some states that do not have income or sales taxes rely on the lotteries to raise money for public services, which they argue are essential. But lotteries are very inefficient for government, raising just 40 percent of each dollar spent on a ticket and, by some estimates, as little as 2 to 4 percent of total state revenue.

It’s partly a moral and religious sensibility that started turning against lotteries in the 1800s, but corruption was a big factor as well. Denmark Vesey, an enslaved man in Charleston, South Carolina, won the local lottery and used it to purchase his freedom. But even when the lottery does work, it can have unintended consequences.

For example, studies show that lottery advertising is regressive, meaning that lower-income Americans spend more of their incomes on tickets than wealthier citizens do. And many of these low-income Americans live in neighborhoods that are disproportionately Black or Latino, which makes them particularly likely to be exposed to marketing for state lotteries.