A lottery is a competition in which numbered tickets are sold for a chance to win a prize, typically money or goods. The term is also used for state-sponsored lotteries that raise funds to benefit a specific cause. Regardless of the prize, a lottery is considered gambling and is illegal in most states.

In the seventeenth century, a government-run lottery became very common in the Low Countries, where it was hailed as a painless form of taxation. Lottery profits were often used to build town fortifications or to support charity. By the eighteenth century, the practice was widespread in Britain, where it was often promoted as a “get-out-of-jail-free card,” which prosecutors and magistrates offered to lottery participants who might otherwise be arrested for other crimes.

Lottery advocates shifted tactics after they stopped being able to sell the idea that a lottery could float all of a state’s budget. They began to argue that it would fund a single line item, invariably some popular and nonpartisan service—education, elder care, public parks, aid for veterans. This narrower strategy made it easy for politicians to campaign on its behalf, as voters were not being asked to endorse gambling but a particular government service that most of them supported. However, the money that a lottery raised was still often far short of what needed to be spent. As a result, state lotteries have continued to be regressive, with lower-income communities spending more than their wealthier counterparts.