Lottery is a game where participants pay money to have the chance to win a prize based on an entirely random process. Prizes can range from simple cash to items such as apartments in a subsidized housing complex or kindergarten placements in a public school. Lotteries are usually conducted by government-sponsored entities and the profits they generate are used to finance government programs. The word lottery comes from the Middle Dutch lotere and is related to the root of the verb “to draw” (as in keno slips from the Chinese Han dynasty between 205 and 187 BC).
States that have adopted state-sponsored lotteries generally legislate a monopoly for themselves; establish a public agency or corporation to run the lottery (rather than license a private firm in return for a cut of profits); start with a small number of relatively simple games; and, over time, expand the variety of available games to attract new players and increase revenues. The emergence of the lottery has paralleled the growth in the popularity of games such as bingo, which are characterized by their low cost and the fact that winnings are determined by chance rather than skill.
Lotteries are generally popular with the general public because of the fact that they are considered a public service, and because their proceeds are used to fund programs that have broad appeal. But they are also generally popular with specific constituencies, such as convenience store operators (who sell tickets); lottery suppliers (heavy contributions to state political campaigns are regularly reported); teachers (in those states in which lottery revenue is earmarked for education); and state legislators, who quickly become accustomed to the large sums of money flowing into their budgets.