A lottery is a process in which numbers or symbols are randomly selected to determine winners of prizes. A common element of all lotteries is some means for recording the identities of bettors and their stakes. This can take the form of a numbered ticket that is deposited with the lottery organization for shuffling and possible selection in a drawing or, more commonly, a computer record of each bettor’s chosen numbers.

The history of the lottery dates back to ancient times, with the casting of lots used for everything from determining a king in Rome to divining Jesus’s garments after his crucifixion. It became widespread in the fifteenth century, when the first public lotteries were organized. Often, the proceeds from these lotteries went to support municipal projects.

For bettors, a lottery’s primary appeal is its promise of unimaginable wealth. But, as the author of this article points out, this promise has been matched by an equally unimaginable decline in the financial security of working people. During the nineteen-seventies and nineteen-eighties, job security eroded, pensions were cut, income inequality rose, health care costs soared, and the longstanding national promise that hard work would make one better off than their parents ceased to hold true for many.

While defenders of the lottery sometimes cast it as a “tax on stupidity,” this characterization is misguided. Like all commercial products, lottery sales fluctuate according to economic conditions; they rise as incomes fall, unemployment grows, and poverty rates rise; and they are heavily promoted in communities that are disproportionately poor, black, or Latino.