Lottery is a form of gambling where a prize, such as cash or goods, is awarded based on the drawing of lots. It is a common activity in many countries. Some governments prohibit it and others endorse it. In the United States, 44 states and the District of Columbia operate state-sponsored lotteries. The six that don’t (you can’t play Powerball or Mega Millions in those states) are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Utah, and Nevada. These states, with their religious beliefs and/or concerns over taxation, have reasons for not running a lottery.
Lotteries have been around for a long time, and were very popular in the Roman Empire, where Nero enjoyed playing them as a form of entertainment during Saturnalia parties. The first known European lotteries with tickets for sale and prizes in the form of money were recorded in the Low Countries in the 15th century, for raising funds to repair town fortifications or to help the poor.
Rich people do play the lottery, but they buy fewer tickets than the poor do, and their purchases constitute a smaller fraction of their incomes. They also tend to be less concerned with the odds of winning, and thus are more likely to go for large jackpots.
The success of lotteries in the modern era, as Cohen argues, grew out of a fiscal crisis in which state governments were finding it difficult to balance their budgets without increasing taxes or cutting services, both of which are deeply unpopular with voters. But studies have shown that the popularity of lotteries is not related to the objective fiscal conditions of a state, as they win broad public approval even when they are not in desperate financial straits.