The lottery is a popular form of public gambling in which participants have a chance to win cash prizes, with some states offering multiple prize categories. The prize money is drawn at random from a pool of funds, and the winnings are paid in the form of annual installments over 20 years (after taxes). Some states also offer instant games such as scratch-off tickets. Critics charge that lotteries entice people to gamble with money that could be better spent on other things and that their advertising misleads players by exaggerating the likelihood of winning (see below) and inflating the total value of the jackpots (which are eroded by taxes and inflation).

The origin of the modern lottery is often traced to the distribution of property among the heirs following the death of a family member. This practice traces back to ancient times, and the Old Testament contains several examples of land being distributed by lot. Lotteries were common in the medieval world as a way to raise money for public projects, and in the early American colonies they were used to fund private colleges such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, King’s College, and William and Mary.

When state governments decide to organize a lottery, they legislate a monopoly for themselves; create an independent agency or public corporation to run the lottery; establish a number of modest, relatively simple games; and then, under constant pressure to generate additional revenues, progressively expand the lottery in terms of both its size and complexity. This evolution of the lottery has fueled criticisms such as the regressive impact on low-income populations and the problem of compulsive gamblers.