A form of gambling in which tickets are sold and a drawing is held to distribute prizes, often money. It may also refer to any process whose outcome is determined by chance:
In modern times, state lotteries are generally advertised as a painless way for the public to contribute to a government’s budget without raising taxes. This argument is often effective in winning public approval, and lottery proceeds have been widely used by governments for education and other programs. But the popularity of lotteries does not appear to be related to a state’s objective fiscal conditions, and studies have shown that lottery revenues are only modestly greater than those from other sources of public revenue.
The use of the casting of lots to make decisions and determine fates has a long history, including several instances in the Bible. The first recorded public lottery offering tickets for sale and distributing prize money was organized by Roman Emperor Augustus for repairs in the city of Rome. A lottery of this type was also popular in the Low Countries in the 15th century, when it was used to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor.
The development of state lotteries has followed remarkably similar patterns in virtually every country that has adopted them. Each state legislates a monopoly for itself, establishes a public corporation to run it, begins operations with a modest number of relatively simple games, and then, due to constant pressures for additional revenues, progressively expands the lottery’s portfolio of games and its promotional activities.