The lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling in America. People spend upwards of $100 billion on tickets a year. And it’s a big business for state governments that often promote it as a painless way to raise revenue. But just how much of that money is actually spent on helping kids or anything else isn’t always clear.
It’s also a classic example of how public policy gets shaped piecemeal and incrementally, with little oversight. Lottery officials often inherit policies and a dependency on revenue from their predecessors that they can’t control. It’s also an example of the way that the word “lottery” has been used to suggest something random or irrational, even though it was originally a Latin term for drawing lots as a method of decision-making or divination.
Modern lotteries have many purposes, including military conscription, commercial promotions in which property is given away through a random procedure, and the selection of jury members from lists of registered voters. Some of these arrangements are regulated by law, and others are not. But there is one thing that they all have in common: payment of a consideration, such as money or goods or services, for the chance to win a prize.
Despite the fact that most of us know the odds of winning are extremely long, it’s hard to stop ourselves from buying a ticket or two, or three. And the reason for that is simple: we want that sliver of hope, that tiny possibility that we’re going to be the lucky ones. I’ve talked to lottery players who play for years, spending $50, $100 a week or more. And they defy the expectations that you would have about them: They’re irrational, they don’t understand odds, they’ve been duped by lottery commissions.
There are, however, some surprisingly clear patterns about who plays and how much they play. In the United States, for example, lottery play is disproportionately lower-income and less educated and is more likely to occur among men. It’s also more prevalent in areas where there is a strong church presence and among those with more pronounced political views. Benjamin Franklin, for example, sponsored a lottery to raise funds for cannons to defend Philadelphia from the British during the American Revolution, and Thomas Jefferson held a private lottery in 1826 to try to alleviate his crushing debts.
Lottery commissions are adroit at conveying the message that playing is fun, and the experience of scratching a ticket is enjoyable. But that coded message obscures how regressive the lottery really is and obscures how much of a share of income people can be expected to give up in order to play. They are also adept at emphasizing the specific benefits of lottery revenue to states, which can distract from the overall cost.
