Lottery
A lottery is a method of distributing something (usually money or prizes) by chance among a group of people. The term is most often used to refer to gambling types of lottery, but there are also other kinds that distribute property or goods by chance: military conscription, commercial promotions, and jury selections from lists of registered voters.
Origin of the word lottery
Lotteries are a common source of state revenues. However, they’re not always popular with the general public. Rather, they are popular with voters who want the state to spend more money and politicians who look at the revenue as a way to get tax money without having to charge the public.
Evolution of the lottery
The evolution of state lotteries is a classic case of public policy being made piecemeal and incrementally. Authority – and thus pressures on lottery officials — is divided between the legislative and executive branches, and further fragmented within each, with the result that general public welfare is taken into consideration only intermittently, if at all.
Critics of lottery play point to the fact that it disproportionately affects lower-income communities, and many have argued that this is a negative result of the industry’s growth over time. They also complain that the industry’s growth has resulted in a reliance on a fixed pool of revenues, which can be increased or diminished by the introduction of new games.
In addition, there are many variations in the types of lottery games offered by different states and the District of Columbia. Some have instant-win scratch-off games, others are daily numbers games and a few require the player to pick three or four numbers for a chance at winning.