People who play lottery know they have long odds, but they don’t let that stop them. They don’t buy tickets to win just a little bit of money; they spend a lot of money and time on the game because, for many, it’s the last or only hope. Those who do the math know that the chances are long, but they also understand that a good strategy can reduce their risk and improve their odds.
The word “lottery” comes from Middle Dutch lotinge, a contraction of Dutch lotterij or lotterij, the verb for drawing lots; it was used in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor. In the United States, public lotteries began as a means to collect “voluntary taxes” and were instrumental in the building of many American colleges including Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, King’s College, William and Mary, Union, and Brown.
Lottery commissions have long promoted two messages about the lottery: that winning is a possibility, and that playing is fun. It’s easy to see how those messages obscure the regressivity of lottery sales, but they also hide the reality that most players are committed gamblers who spend large portions of their incomes on ticket purchases.
Many of these gamblers are disproportionately lower-income, less educated, and nonwhite, and the vast majority of lottery revenue comes from them. The rest of the money is distributed by participating state governments, which use it to fund a variety of programs including addiction treatment and education.