A lottery is a form of gambling in which tickets are sold for the chance to win a prize, usually money or goods. Many governments outlaw lotteries or limit their size, but most allow private organizations to hold them or regulate them. In the United States, there are state-sponsored lotteries and privately run commercial ones. The latter often offer a greater variety of games and have higher prizes than state-sponsored lotteries. While the casting of lots has a long history in human society—Nero was a fan—the modern concept of lottery as a method of distributing wealth is relatively recent. The first recorded public lotteries, offering tickets for a prize in the form of money, were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and poor relief.

In colonial America, lotteries played a significant role in financing both private and public ventures. During the 1740s and early 1750s, for example, they helped to finance churches, schools, canals, bridges, roads, and other infrastructure. Lotteries also helped to fund the expedition against Canada during the French and Indian War. In addition, they helped to establish Princeton and Columbia Universities.

From the start, state lotteries have been viewed by many politicians as a source of “painless” revenue—that is, a way to raise funds without increasing state taxes on the working and middle classes. But as the economy has changed in the decades since the end of World War II, that arrangement has become increasingly unstable.

The rapid expansion of state lotteries after World War II reflected a general political mood that sought to reduce taxes, especially on the middle and working classes. This trend has continued in the post-World War II years, even as income inequality and poverty rates have grown. Lottery players are disproportionately drawn from lower-income neighborhoods, and their spending on tickets is higher than that of people in other income brackets.

Some critics have attacked lottery play as a “tax on stupidity,” arguing that people don’t understand how unlikely it is to win. But that view misunderstands both the nature of lotteries and the nature of economic change. The fact is that as our incomes have fallen and our social safety net has eroded, the lottery has become an alluring prospect for those who want to buy their way out of trouble.