Lottery is a popular pastime with Americans spending over $80 billion a year on tickets. But the game didn’t always enjoy such broad popularity, and in its early days it was a source of controversy in America, especially among Puritans who considered gambling to be a sin.
While the casting of lots has a long and varied history—it’s mentioned several times in the Bible, for instance—the modern lottery is relatively recent. The first recorded public lotteries to distribute prize money were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, for such projects as town fortifications and helping the poor.
These early lotteries didn’t necessarily involve drawing numbers, but rather offering prizes like fancy dinnerware. The prizes were of unequal value, but nevertheless the games provided an enjoyable diversion for participants at dinner parties and other social gatherings. The modern state lottery is a far more sophisticated affair, with randomized numbers, predetermined prize amounts, and a rigorous selection process.
Today, most states have lotteries that raise enormous sums of money for a wide variety of projects, from public works to education. Some even hold charitable lotteries that help to alleviate poverty and other social problems. The growth of these lotteries has produced a set of new issues, however. As they expand, their revenues tend to increase dramatically, then level off, and sometimes even decline—a fact that prompts an almost constant introduction of new games in the hopes of maintaining or increasing revenue.