Lottery is a form of gambling in which people purchase tickets and try to win cash prizes by matching numbers drawn at random. Prizes are often donated to good causes. Some governments outlaw the practice, while others endorse it and organize state-wide or national lotteries. Some states regulate the lottery to prevent abuses.

The term lottery is from the Dutch noun lot, meaning fate or chance. It is thought that the first state-sponsored lotteries began in the Low Countries in the 1500s, but there is evidence for earlier private lotteries in the towns of Ghent, Utrecht, and Bruges. These were mainly used to raise funds for town fortifications and for poor relief.

In the US, lotteries became popular in the 1800s as a way to obtain “voluntary taxes” from citizens and were instrumental in the funding of many American institutions including Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and King’s College (now Columbia). After public outcry over the scandal of bribery to sell the right to print the national lottery in 1834, state legislatures banned it, but private lotteries continued.

The main argument for state lotteries has always been that they benefit a particular “public good” such as education. This argument is highly effective, particularly during periods of economic stress when voters get mad at politicians for raising taxes and are willing to give them up in exchange for a better education. But it is important to note that state lotteries do not actually have much impact on overall state revenues. Revenues usually grow rapidly after the launch of a lottery but then level off and begin to decline. The industry responds to this by constantly introducing new games to try and maintain or increase revenues.